The Superior Man
by Bill K
Summary: Ami falls victim to an old adversary. And Japan's greatest disaster of the century yet spawns a menace that threatens to topple its very form of government.
1. The Demands Of Love

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 1: "The Demands of Love"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sailor Moon and all related characters are (c)2014 by Naoko Takeuchi and are used without permission, but with respect. Story is (c)2014 by Bill K.

* * *

In late November of 2012, in the Shrine on Sendai Hill, there was a gathering. A wedding was taking place. The groom was there, supported by family and friends. His name was Shingo Tsukino and in all of his thirty years on this planet, this was probably the most frightening thing he had ever faced. As the priest, Rei Hino, stood before him, he glanced over to his family for reassurance. His father, Kenji, nodded to him confidently. His mother, Ikuko, beamed proudly. His older sister, Usagi, holding Shingo's one month old daughter in her arms while the infant's father and mother got married, had tears streaming from her eyes and a thousand watt smile beneath them. She had been the driving force behind this ceremony. He would have wed his bride in a civil ceremony, but there were certain forces of nature you couldn't fight and Usagi the wedding planner was one of them. Next to Usagi was her husband, Mamoru, and he gave Shingo a look of confidence as well. So Shingo turned to his bride.

Yoriko looked at him and there seemed to be a moment's anxiety to her. Yoriko had no family to support her. Being a yuki-onna, her family had died out centuries ago. Shingo was all she had and she, like most of her kind, feared the sting of being rejected by one she had given her heart to and given up her immortality for. Shingo sensed this and put his fears aside. He was plunging into the unknown, but she would be with him. He smiled to her, thanking her for consenting to walk by his side. The smile washed away her anxiety and she beamed in return.

"And do you, Yoriko, take this man to be your lawful husband?" Rei asked solemnly. She didn't like performing Western wedding rites, but knew the ceremony and consented in deference to the couple.

"Yes," Yoriko replied, daring to hope that even an undead succubus could find love.

"And do you, Shingo, take this - - woman - - to be your lawful wife?" Rei asked. She mentally cursed herself for stumbling over the passage. No one else seemed to notice.

"I do," Shingo said. He already had. The baby Usagi was gently cradling was proof of that. This just made it official.

"Then I pronounce you husband and wife," Rei announced. "May all your days be blessed with happiness."

Shingo bent down and sought Yoriko's lips. Yoriko rose up to meet his mouth. Usagi could be heard loudly blubbering in the background.

Later at the reception, held in Makoto's Butterfly Palace restaurant and bakery, little Mikomi Tsukino was the hit of the gathering. While Shingo and his friends drank and traded stories, the women gathered around Yoriko and peered at Mikomi, bundled in blankets and sleeping peacefully.

"She is just the cutest thing!" Rei gushed.

"Yeah, she really looks like her mother," Usagi beamed. "Thank goodness!"

"Actually, I think she resembles Shingo," Yoriko proposed.

"Well," Usagi frowned, "I do remember him drooling like that."

"Most infants tend to drool like that, Usagi," Ami cautioned her.

"I was talking about last week," Usagi shot back.

"Man, for a rug rat, she's all right," Minako grinned. Minako had on her dark glasses and wig, so as not to draw the press to the gathering.

"She's a doll," Makoto agreed. "Not as cute as mine. But I suppose I'm prejudiced."

"October 14, 2013," Usagi repeated. "I have to remember that. Mikomi-chan is going to get a mountain of presents from me on her first birthday."

"Usagi, please don't go too far," Yoriko cautioned.

"I insist! This is the first time I've ever been a - - grand - - sister..."

"Aunt," her four friends corrected.

"Anyway, I want to do right by her!"

"You've already given her the greatest present you could give," Yoriko said. "You accept her. I know that wasn't easy, given what I am," and she glanced at Rei.

"We wouldn't dream of penalizing an innocent for the past," Rei replied. "And so long as you live up to your vows to Shingo and raise your daughter right, what's past is past."

"And we know you will, Yoriko-chan," beamed Usagi.

"Shingo and Mikomi will give me the strength," Yoriko said wistfully.

* * *

The next morning found Mamoru off to his doctor's office. Usagi, though, lingered at the breakfast table. Luna leisurely walked into the room and gave the woman, sitting in her chair with her chin slumped to her chest, a critical eye.

"The normal human sleep cycle is eight hours rest and sixteen hours awake," Luna stated tartly, "not the reverse."

The response was a snort, caused by temporarily obstructed air passages. Usagi raised her head and turned blindly toward the cat.

"Did you say something?" she murmured, then began to drift off again.

"Usagi!" snapped Luna. "It is nine in the morning and you must get started on your manga assignment, if nothing else!"

"Right," Usagi mumbled sleepily. "Right after breakfast."

"You've already had breakfast."

"I don't remember eating breakfast."

"That's because you slept through it," Luna scowled.

Further conversation was cut off by the door bell. Prying herself out of her chair, Usagi closed her robe and shuffled to the door, stumbling over the leg of an end table. Her blonde hair still down and strands dangling in her eyes, she opened the door before Luna could warn her to check the peep hole first.

"Good morning, Chiba-senpai," smiled Sanoko Narita. The woman grinned, by now used to Usagi Chiba's frazzled morning look. For her part, she was dressed in faded black jeans that looked painted on, Doc Marten boots, and a blue denim jacket over her black tank top. Her black hair was cut to shoulder length and one strand, streaked green, swept above her right eye.

Usagi squinted and stared for a few seconds.

"Oh," she murmured. "Sanoko-chan. Come on in." She escorted the woman inside. Luna noticed Sanoko was carrying a portfolio. "Why are you so early? Don't you sleep at all?"

"It's nine," Sanoko smirked. "Is your husband around?"

"No, he left for work," Usagi replied peevishly. Suddenly she was a lot more alert. "And I already told you he's spoken for."

"Just my luck," Sanoko sighed. "I brought the latest batch of pages."

"Ooh, gimme gimme gimme!" squealed Usagi, taking the portfolio from her. "There's Diet Coke in the refrigerator if you're thirsty."

"Thanks," replied Sanoko. She looked down at Luna as she passed. "Hiya, Luna!"

"Meow," Luna replied in her best "cat".

"So, need any corrections, Chiba-senpai?" Sanoko inquired, sipping her Diet Coke straight from the can.

"Sanoko-chan," Usagi warned. "What have I told you about that?"

"I'm sorry, but it's my upbringing," the artist alibied. "You're my senior and I'm supposed to address you as 'senpai', not 'Usagi'."

"Well, I'll overlook it," Usagi conceded, then glanced at her with a smirk, "this time. But you call me 'Usagi' or I'll - - get really angry."

Sanoko thought she heard Luna snicker.

"The pages are beautiful as usual. And it's not just me saying it. Baishaku-senpai is always raving about how good your inking is." She put the pages down and headed for her studio, the little alcove just off of the bedroom. "I'll get the new pages for you to work on." Returning, she handed the pages to her assistant. Sanoko leafed through them.

"Rika actually kisses The Dark Lord?" Sanoko gasped.

"I know. Isn't it awful," Usagi replied with a Cheshire grin.

"I'll have these back in a few days, Chi. . .um, Usagi." And out the door she went. Usagi just stood and smiled for a moment. Then she was seized by a thought.

"I've got to get the next chapter started!" she gasped. "Luna, why didn't you say something?"

"You slept through it," muttered the cat.

* * *

Also that morning, but earlier, Ami Mizuno was up and about. She efficiently made her nutritious breakfast, sat down at her dining table and began sifting through the morning's events. The only change in her morning ritual between now and her first day as a newly graduated doctor was that now she read her morning newspapers as downloads onto her tablet, rather than thumb through an actual newspaper. An item in the paper spoke of an impending wedding and that sparked the memory of the wedding she had attended the previous day.

And that got her to thinking about Hayami.

And that got her to thinking about how deathly alone she was. Ami sat back, her breakfast and her tablet forgotten. Her father was gone. She was estranged from her mother. And she and Hayami had put their engagement on hold ten months ago. Hayami's reasons were obvious to her: He feared the emotional impact of committing feelings toward someone whose next mission as a sailor senshi could be her last. She said she understood and she did.

Her reasons for agreeing, though, were more than just being understanding. For an analysis of her feelings had revealed that she was afraid, too. She had doubts about committing to him. Love wasn't something that could be calculated to achieve a desired result. Love was this completely irrational emotional response that often threw two totally mismatched personalities together, usually bonded out of emotional need or physical lust. Just look at her parents: Two complete opposites in every respect. And once the blinding passion of their courtship cooled into the reality of marriage, they just bickered and fought until they couldn't remain together any longer.

And they succeeded in breaking the heart of an innocent young girl.

That was the consequence of love that poets and novelists never brought up. She and Hayami had pulled away before risking committing and even then the damage had been done. They'd vowed to remain friends no matter their ultimate decision, but since that day their time together had become awkward. The unspoken question wedged between them. The implications of what they had, what they wanted and what they were afraid they couldn't give had made their easy familiarity uneasy. All because of love.

Before becoming involved with Hayami she'd had a career, an insatiable curiosity and the means to satisfy it. It had been enough before. So why, with the exception of the time she spent with the four women she considered her greatest friends in the world, did she seem so isolated now? Why did it seem like she was hiding from life - - or perhaps from pain? What was this need she felt to belong? Was it enculturation or instinctual? Why would a mind as orderly and conservative as hers desire something as chaotic, as unstructured and as risky as love?

"Goodness, I'll be late if I don't get going," Ami mumbled to herself after noticing the clock. "I'll have to read my papers tonight."

Gathering everything she'd need for the day, Ami slipped on her coat and headed for the door. But at the door, she paused, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The face she saw looked so melancholy. Her hand reached up and touched the reflection, drawing down along the jaw line.

"At least you're not breaking out in a rash at the thought of love anymore," Ami thought.

Maturity had brought the realization that her high school reaction to love and love letters was psychosomatic. The mind could indeed do amazing things.

It could even build prisons out of cinder blocks of fear.

* * *

Minako Aino walked out of King Records corporate offices with a jaunt to her step that was indicative, to anyone who knew her, that she was about to burst with good news. Her agent trailed a few steps behind her, unable to keep up.

"Slow down, Aino," he said. "You've still got a month."

"I can't help it!" exclaimed the woman, her long blonde locks bouncing behind her. "My CD is selling through the roof and this concert tour is only going to make it hotter!" She paused dramatically and flung her hand into the air, index finger pointing to the ceiling. "I'm back, baby!"

The receptionist glanced at her, then shook her head.

"Don't get cocky," her agent warned as they headed into the elevator.

"I've got another platinum CD, a multi-million yen concert tour coming, rave reviews for the job I did in 'Lost Souls'," Minako rattled off. "Movie offers and endorsements are beginning to trickle back. And my fan mail gave three postmen hernias."

"Which is why I say 'don't get cocky'. You start taking this for granted, easing up on work, screwing around in your private time again and it'll all go poof." The elevator opened onto the lobby of the building.

"When have I ever not done the work?" Minako replied. "As for my private time, as long as a certain someone keeps his gorgeous nose out of Tokyo, I'll be fine."

As they headed for the elevator to the underground parking garage, several teenage girls ran up to them.

"Aino-san, Aino-san!" they squealed, holding autograph books. "Please!"

"We've got an appointment with your stage choreographer," warned her agent.

"It can wait," Minako said definitely as she took a pen and autograph book from one girl. "I can spare a few minutes for them. They're why I do this. They're why I'm where I am." She turned to the girl. "What's your name, girlfriend?"

"T-Tomoyo," sputtered the teen.

"To Tomoyo," she recited as she wrote. "Thank you for liking me. Minako Aino."

"We loved your CD!" another fan squealed.

"Really? Which song did you like the best?" Minako asked.

"All of them!"

"Hey, now that's a batting average," chuckled Minako. "Did you know I'm going to start a concert tour in a month?"

"GREAT!" they all exclaimed.

"When will you be playing Tokyo?"

"Won't be until July or August of 2013," Minako informed them. "So what was your name?"

"I better start saving," the girl gasped.

"That's a funny name," quipped Minako. All the while her agent watched from a few feet away.

"Yeah, I think you kind of had something to do with it," he mused.

* * *

Hayami Fujihara walked down the same street on his way to work at the Tokyo Metropolitan Library. It was the same route he took every morning for nine years, for Hayami Fujihara was an incredible creature of habit. He wore the same tie and jacket that he'd worn for nine years, one of only three he owned. The jacket was beginning to fray at the elbows and Hayami knew he was going to have to replace it. That upset him, because it was a good jacket. It was comfortable. It was dependable. It wouldn't give him any surprises.

Hayami hated surprises. They were the unknown. Hayami didn't like the unknown. He didn't trust the unknown. The unknown could take away a person's comfort zone in an instant.

Ami loved the unknown. She had a passion for the unknown. She had a compulsion to explore the unknown and make it known, no matter the consequences. That passion was one of the things that attracted him to her. Ami Mizuno was so smart and so logical and so precise with her life that it almost seemed to immunize her from any ill effects the unknown might bring. Being with her allowed him to face the unknown vicariously.

But Hayami knew there were consequences. The unknown might bow down in the face of Ami's superior planning and superior intellect, but he knew it made no exceptions for him. And he feared it was planning to betray Ami the moment she let her guard down. And something fearful would happen.

As he passed the site of an old building, Hayami glanced at it. The building had survived the bombings during World War II. It dated back, in Hayami's semi-expert judgment, almost to the Meiji era. It had once housed a temple school and was now used as a "cram school" for students seeking to increase their odds of passing entrance exams.

It made him think of Ami. A lot of things these days seemed to make him think of Ami. He missed Ami. His own fears about her being Sailor Mercury had driven a wedge between them. They seemed to see less and less of each other as the days passed and their time together always seemed awkward and distant. It was his fault. He knew it was his fault. Ami had a mission as Sailor Mercury that was as important as her career as a doctor. The Sailor Senshi were vital to the safety of Japan and of the world. Asking her to stop, just to spare him the pain of loss if she were to fall in battle, was the height of selfishness. He hadn't asked her to do it. He wouldn't. He couldn't.

But that left him with a choice: Face living a life with the looming unknown at his shoulder every time she transformed, or living without her. Being alone had never been a burden before. But it was now.

Hunching his shoulders, Hayami trudged on to work. Funny how the library didn't seem as important now as it had before he met Ami. And as he shuffled off, a mist seemed to rise from the cram school. It collected in the air twenty feet off of the ground and seemed to transform into a girl. She wore a kimono of ancient design. Her hair was in twin tails gathered on either side of her head and the color of her hair was split down the middle: Blonde on the right side, violet on the left. She had a round face, almost like a bulldog's, and a mouth that almost seemed too big for the rest of her face. Her eyes were wide, but narrowed when she gazed at Hayami. Hands went to her mouth to cover a childish grin.

"There he is again," Bonnun thought. "And he's even more consumed with worldly desires than yesterday."

Continued in Chapter 2


	2. The Mind

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 2: "The Mind"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

"Hatarakiburi!" yelled the Maintenance Chief. "Get that load of pipe down to the next level!"

"Yes, sir," sighed Jin Hatarakiburi. He stooped down, remembering to lift with his legs, and hoisted a bundle of water pipe up, then began the trek down the staircase to the next level. His knees ached from the effort, and this was "down hill". Climbing back up would be even worse.

At the bottom of the steps, he paused and tried to catch his breath inside his radiation suit. It was always so hot in reactor number one of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, even now in late November. And the protective suit he wore made it even hotter. Even now, nearly two years after the accident, the danger from heat and radiation should he remove his protective suit remained almost as high for a plant maintenance worker like him as the day of the accident. Jin knew nothing about radiation except for what the plant supervisors had told him: Don't take off your radiation suit inside the plant, no matter how hot it became. It made him wonder just how dangerous this job really was. He knew none of his supervisors would tell him, and he wasn't certain he'd understand it they did. Between that and the back-breaking physical toil of his job - - and the way he was treated by supervisors and by the company who owned the plant and employed him - - Jin was seriously contemplating quitting. Maybe he could get a job driving a produce truck for the local supplier. They were up and running again.

"Here's the pipe, Shimatsu," Jin said to the plumbing tech he worked with.

"Good," Shimatsu nodded. "Can you check the pump on the out-take line? I don't like the way it sounds."

"Yes, sir," Jin sighed. How soon would this day end?

"Last think we need is a pump going out," Shimatsu continued as Jin walked away. "Switch it to the auxiliary if you need to."

"Naturally," Jin muttered. Six years he'd been a plumber; nine months he'd been at the plant and his supervisor still treated him like a moron.

Entering the room where the out-take pump was housed, Jin immediately noticed that the device was louder than usual. No doubt that was what Shimatsu was talking about. It didn't sound like a ball bearing problem. The arms and shaft seemed fine. Jin listened more intently. An electrical problem, maybe? Perhaps a short?

"Better switch it over to the auxiliary pump," Jin judged. "After that, maybe I can spot the problem." He grinned. "Maybe Shimatsu will even be impressed."

Snorting derisively at the last thought, Jin Hatarakiburi reached down to throw the switch. But within in inch of the switch, electricity arced to moisture on the glove of his suit. Instantly Jin was seized by a massive charge of current. And while his suit was the best there was at protecting a human against radiation, it wasn't designed to protect against electricity. Jin seemed to hover for a few moments, shaking violently as the electricity poured into him, helpless to pull away. His vision clouded over with a veil of blue and yellow.

Then the electricity popped - - loudly. The force of the explosion threw Jin back against the wall. He slammed against the unyielding cinder block, then slid to the floor in a heap. Moments later Shimatsu and two other maintenance workers burst into the room.

"Hatarakiburi!" one of them yelled out in shock.

* * *

The seats of the New National Theater were filled to capacity. The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra was performing and many of those at the theater were regular attendees of the Symphony's shows. But there were others in the audience who had never attended a performance by the orchestra before. They were there to see the two guest performers.

Seated at a piano, surrounded by the orchestra on stage, was the incongruous sight of famed Formula 1 champion driver Haruka Tenoh. The woman was dressed in a white tuxedo and many of the new attendees were there to see her. Whether from the novelty of a race car driver playing with the symphony or from the naked lust some had for her, for Haruka had many devotees of both sexes, they had come to see her. The fact that she could actually play with some skill was a surprising bonus.

Standing in front of the piano, swathed in a dazzling sequined sea foam green low cut gown and matching opera gloves, was the famed violinist and equally famed companion of the pianist, Michiru Kaioh. Though fewer of the newcomers had come to see her, Kaioh's loyalists had greeted the news that she would be guesting with the symphony as a vindication of their affection for her music.

And there were a few who had come to see them both. One was a bubbly blonde in a blue strapless gown and white opera gloves, her twin odango hair style at once odd and unique. As the concert began, she stared up in joyous attention, her handsome companion in black evening clothes sitting by her side and enduring her death grip on his arm.

The performance was a series of classical pieces, each with violin solos to show off the guest performer. Michiru would handle each solo with a dramatic flair that would delight the audience, then seamlessly blend back in with the orchestra for the body of the piece. The fifth piece even featured a piano solo which Haruka performed efficiently, oblivious to the audience. The eighth piece, to everyone's surprise and delight, was a rendition of Minako Aino's pop hit "Island Princess", scored for full orchestra. At the end of ninety minutes, the theater exploded in thunderous applause. Michiru bowed gratefully to the audience and then to her orchestral accompaniment, while Haruka looked on stoically.

"I think half the audience crapped their pants when you launched into 'Island Princess'," Haruka said in the dressing room back stage. She and Michiru were changing after the show.

"Why did I ever fall in love with such a crude person?" Michiru gasped in mock indignation.

"It was the car," Haruka grinned. "Chicks dig fast cars."

"Be truthful now," Michiru ventured. "It went well, didn't it?"

"Unless the audience was clapping because it was finally over," Haruka shrugged.

"I still could have done a better job on the Handel piece," Michiru fussed. Haruka merely sighed and smiled to herself.

Alerted by a knock on the door, Haruka got up and answered it. At the door was the stage manager, with two people behind him.

"Forgive the intrusion," he bowed slightly. "These two insist that they're friends of yours . . ."

"Dumpling!" Haruka exclaimed. Quickly she gestured Usagi and Mamoru in. "You must have been at the show. I doubt you'd get all dressed up just to visit." The woman tilted her head and surveyed Usagi in the flatteringly draped gown. "Got to say you look hot that way, Dumpling."

"Ahem," Michiru piped up as Usagi blushed. "Did you two enjoy the show?"

"Michiru, you were FANTASTIC!" squealed Usagi. "I couldn't take my eyes off of you and Haruka!" Michiru nodded, then glanced at Mamoru, as Usagi was easily impressed.

"Very well done," Mamoru assured her.

"You HAVE to do this again!" Usagi exhorted.

"I'll see if the orchestra leader is amenable," Michiru replied. She emitted a contented sigh. "I certainly enjoyed it." She started peeling off the opera gloves, but Usagi stopped her.

"Don't change!" Usagi pleaded. "I want to take you both out to dinner!"

"Well isn't that nice of you," Michiru smiled. She glanced at Haruka and received a silent nod. "We accept. Where are we going?"

"I have the perfect place!" Usagi grinned.

Sanjuro Ikegami looked up from the Maitre D stand at the entrance and was momentarily shocked by the two couples in fancy dress entering The Butterfly Palace. In the restaurant's short history, it was considered a business casual establishment. Then he spotted Usagi.

"My favorite customer," he smiled. "Coming back from a show?"

"Yes, it was the most marvelous concert I've been to since The Three Lights stopped touring!" Usagi beamed.

"Well there's some heady praise," Michiru mumbled ironically to Haruka.

"Think you can squeeze us in, Sanjuro?" Mamoru asked.

"Are you kidding? Babe would shoot me if I didn't," Sanjuro grinned.

On the way to their table, the party and Sanjuro were intercepted by Makoto, dressed in kitchen whites and clearly in the middle of running the kitchen. But she had ventured out into the main restaurant, drawing looks from the diners.

"I thought that was you, Hon'," Makoto exclaimed. "Boy, you look fancy tonight! That gown alone must have set you back a ton!"

"About three pages worth," Usagi chuckled. "But it was worth it."

"Michiru. Haruka," Makoto nodded, a little more stiffly. "Welcome to The Butterfly Palace. I hope you enjoy yourselves."

"I'm sure we will," Michiru replied with a diplomatic smile.

Once they were seated, Makoto disappeared back into the kitchen while Sanjuro returned to being a burly presence at the Maitre D stand.

"You seem familiar with this place," Haruka commented. "What would you recommend?"

"Whatever you want. It's all delicious," Usagi beamed. "I know. I eat here once a week." She leaned in. "And I get takeout at least twice a week."

"So Makoto finally got her dream up and running," Michiru commented. "How long has the restaurant been open?"

"About two months," Mamoru answered. "It's been pretty successful, too. The place has generated good word-of-mouth."

"They would have opened sooner, but Makoto being laid up after that awful business in Asahikawa set them back," Usagi explained.

"So how do they run a restaurant and take care of two kids?" Haruka posed.

"They live upstairs," Usagi told her. "When they built the restaurant, they made the second floor into an apartment. That way Mako-Chan or Sanjuro can run up and check on their kids whenever they need to. And Akiko and Ichiro occasionally help with the dishes or with checking in the food deliveries." She leaned in as their entrees were delivered by a pleasant waiter. "So how have you two been doing? You both look very happy."

Michiru grinned self-consciously. "Well, accompanying Haruka on her Formula 1 tour turned out to be a very good idea."

"I'll say," Haruka nodded. "Got me relaxed enough to take the points championship this past season. That makes her my official good luck charm, so she's got to come every year now."

"And seeing Europe, America and Asia again gave me some very nice inspirations," Michiru added. "Tonight's performance was one of those inspirations. I'm working on another one at home. And it was a pleasant change of pace to not have to sit home and miss Haruka for six months." She sampled her entree. "My! This IS good!"

"I knew it," Usagi beamed. "When it comes to love and good food, I'm the expert."

"I'd heard from Usako that you were versed in playing the piano, too," Mamoru ventured. "Forgive my surprise, but where . . .?"

"Where does an unrepentant tomboy like me learn piano?" Haruka finished his question. "That was Mom. I was pretty rough and tumble even before I came out. She set me up with lessons when I was ten and they lasted pretty much until I ran away - - 'so I could learn culture and discipline', she said. Pretty much hated it, but I learned enough to be competent. Only got back into it when I had a good reason," and she glanced at Michiru.

"Mom tried to do that for me when I was that age," Usagi said, then frowned at the dark memory. "The instructor quit after three lessons." Michiru struggled not to laugh.

* * *

About that time, Rei Hino was walking to her monthly singing gig at The Green Room. It was something she had come to anticipate. She was a priest and she would always remain a priest. Rei held no illusions about being "discovered" and being whisked to stardom along the lines of Minako. But she enjoyed doing this. And performing before an appreciative audience, decked out in flattering clothes and looking radiant, gave her an insight into Minako's character. Now she understood why Minako had that overwhelming urge to perform. Being rewarded for her creative side with applause and adoration was a boost to the ego.

Not that she had an ego.

And thinking about her singing gig brought her thoughts back to Derek Johnson, the burly American baseball player that she frequently entertained. Derek had pushed her into doing this and he had been right. And that made her wonder if he might be right about other things. Though he hadn't been as overt as with the singing, Derek wanted a closer relationship.

There was a part of her that wanted a closer relationship, too. They had fun together. They supported each other. They listened to each other and tried to ease the other's fears and burdens. And their more intimate moments were always nice. What had always kept them apart was her deep-seeded fear of trusting a man with her heart, especially a man who had hurt her once. Why was forgiving always so hard for her? Why was she more likely to cut her own nose off rather than give in on something? Derek had proven himself to anyone with a forgiving nature and half a brain.

What was wrong with her? Maybe it was time to grow up and take a chance.

As she neared the employee entrance, Rei noticed a patch of ice on the ground. Someone had spilled some water and it had frozen in the cold evening temperature. Unable to avoid it, Rei stepped on it carefully, so as not to slip.

And a jolt passed through her. It struck her with such force that the woman sank to her knees. Moments later one of the kitchen stewards came rushing out. He knelt next to Rei as she stared in shock.

"Hino-San!" the man gasped. "Did you slip on the ice? Are you hurt?"

Rei looked at him for a moment without really comprehending who he was. Then her mind flooded back into her. She allowed him to help her to her feet.

"I," she began, then knew she couldn't confess the real reason why she fell. "Yes. I guess I did. Thank you, Mikuri."

"Should I tell the manager you're sick?" Mikuri asked.

"No," Rei replied distantly. "I just need to sit down - - collect my wits."

As Rei made her way to her dressing room, she thought about the premonition that struck her down. It was a good thing her repertoire was melancholy torch songs. After what she just went through, there was no way she could sing "happy" tonight.

* * *

Eyes suddenly popped open. Disoriented, Jin Hatarakiburi looked around. He was in a room he didn't recognize. The decor was Spartan and functional. There was an oxygen tube in his nostrils and another tube taped to his arm. His hands were wrapped in gauze. A rhythmic beep softly sounded overhead. Was he in a hospital room? At once, events at the nuclear plant flooded back. He must be in the hospital. A person doesn't take the massive electrical discharge he took and just walk away from it. A rustle to his right made him look. A woman in blue surgical scrubs leaned over. She was passably pretty, but Jin was struck by how soft her skin looked.

"Hatarakiburi-San," she exclaimed. "You're awake."

"Am I in the hospital?" he asked, his voice weak and raspy. It was a silly question. He already knew the answer.

"Yes," she said. Somehow he knew her name was Tomoyo Haikurabi. "In Tokyo."

"Tokyo?" he gasped.

"You were airlifted from Fukushima because we were better able to treat you here than there," the nurse told him. "How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?"

"How long?" Jin asked.

"How long have you been here?" Tomoyo queried. "Six days; one in Fukushima and the other five here. You were in a coma until just now." She touched his arm. "Please lie still. I'm going to notify your doctor."

Sighing, Jin lay there and contemplated what she had told him. He really didn't have the strength to do anything else. Six days in a coma. The thought intimidated him. And yet, he didn't feel that bad, other than a general fatigue. How was that possible? If he had taken the full voltage that ran through the pump, it should have electrocuted him. He should feel worse than he did - - unless the weakness he felt was permanent.

A doctor came in. He was in his forties, a veteran practitioner who had been in residence at the hospital for years. Jin wasn't sure why he thought that. The doctor - - Manaka was his name - - glanced at the vital sign display, then fished a penlight from his coat. Pulling back Jin's eyelid, he checked the responsiveness of Jin's pupils.

"So how am I?" Jin asked. The doctor considered his answer.

"Lucky to be alive," the doctor told him. "From the information I got from Tokyo Electric Power, the discharge you took was very large. Would have killed most people."

"I feel weak," Jin said.

"That's to be expected," Dr. Manaka replied. "Your musculature endured a massive electrical shock. It's still recovering. Plus you've been flat on your back for six days. You'll be a little weak and stiff for a few weeks, but I expect a full recovery. The worst of it was the burns on your hands. They're responding to treatment and I don't see the need for grafts."

"Thank you, doctor," Jin said. "And your boy will pass his entrance exams. Don't worry."

Both the doctor and the nurse turned to Jin and stared.

"What did you say?" Dr. Manaka asked.

"Your son, Tokoro," Jin replied distantly. "He'll pass."

"How do you know about my son?"

Jin paused and thought.

"I don't know," Jin answered like he was coming out of a fog. "I just - - knew."

Continued in Chapter 3


	3. A Memory of You

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 3: "A Memory of You"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

It was Ami Mizuno's off day and she was spending Saturday in much the same manner she'd spent a lot of Saturdays over the last ten months: Reading. The text was on advanced psychological theory and the subject, like so many subjects, fascinated her. And some of the chapters hit a little close to home. But Ami marshaled her great brain to the task of learning from what she read and put personal problems aside.

Then the door bell rang. Her mouth puckered into a scowl. Though she wasn't one who gambled, her brain set about estimating the likelihood that she knew who was at the door. Ami debated ignoring the summons for all of three seconds, then marked her place in the book and stood up.

"Hi, Ami," beamed Usagi after Ami opened the door.

"I had a feeling," Ami murmured.

"You did? Maybe you're becoming psychic like Rei!"

"No, I," Ami began, then thought better of it. "Come in, Usagi."

As Usagi took a seat at the kitchen table, Ami began preparing some tea. She reached into the cabinet and got out a box of cookies. Ami didn't eat cookies, but she kept some for visitors.

"I can guess why you're here," Ami said fatally.

"You mean about you and Futuhara-Kun and how it's been ten months already?" Usagi asked. Then she stopped talking to snap a cookie in half with one bite. "Maybe you are psychic," she mumbled, crumbs spilling out of her mouth.

"I don't have to be psychic," Ami said, pouring the hot water into the cup. "What else have you talked about for the last four months?"

"Well have you made a decision?"

"It's not my decision to make," Ami struggled to say. "Hayami is the one who has to decide whether he can live with my being Sailor Mercury. I can't make the decision for him. And I shouldn't."

"Has he said anything?" Usagi asked.

"No."

"Well," Usagi said haltingly, "why don't you ask him?"

"I-I don't want to press him," Ami replied. "He may agree out of guilt and what kind of a foundation would that be for a committed relationship? It's been ten months. I have to accept the fact that he can't make that sort of emotional commitment . . ."

"No!" gasped Usagi. The assertive exclamation startled Ami. "Forgive me for being rude, but-but you can't just throw it away like that!"

"Usagi," Ami sighed.

"No, Ami, you were happy!" persisted Usagi. "Happier than I've seen you in a long time! And Hayami was happy, too! And ever since you two broke up, you're not as happy as you were. You both need each other. You need that happiness in your life."

"I have to respect his wishes, Usagi," Ami argued softly.

"You don't even know what his wishes are! When was the last time you talked to him?" Usagi demanded. Ami didn't answer. "Please, Ami, don't throw this away just because you're afraid to love!"

"I am not . . ." she began, then stopped. Of course she was. It would be disingenuous to say otherwise. "Anyway, it takes two to love."

"How do you know he doesn't?" Usagi asked. "Ami, you said you were going to give it six months. Well, it's been more than six months. You deserve an answer. I think you deserve more, but at least you deserve an answer."

"And what if it's 'no'?" Ami asked hoarsely.

"I don't think it will be," Usagi smiled timidly. "But if it is, I'll help you through it. So will the others. We nursed Mina-chan over Ace. We nursed Rei-chan over Derek when he hurt her. We nursed Mako-chan so many times we could qualify for medical school. We can get you past it."

Ami sighed in defeat. "All right. I suppose you are correct in your conclusion. It serves no purpose to delay getting an answer. The sooner I know, the sooner I can move on if the answer is negative."

"Good," smiled Usagi. "I'll come with you."

"Is that a good idea? I don't want Hayami to think we're ganging up on him," fretted Ami.

"I'll hang back - - give you both all the privacy you need," Usagi promised. "Besides, I may have to be there to give Hayami a piece of my mind if he does say 'no'."

"Usagi," Ami sighed impatiently.

"You won't know I'm there," Usagi maintained.

* * *

Rei Hino sat at a desk in the shrine, trying to compose a letter. She knew that writing an actual letter in this modern cyber-age was antiquated behavior. She just didn't care. It was bad enough she'd given in to the internet and downloaded news sites. E-mail was too impersonal. It was bad enough she was using regular mail to do this.

"Dear Derek," she wrote. "I'm sorry to have to write to you with this. I know it may seem impersonal, but I have good reasons. I pray you understand."

Pausing, Rei contemplated what she wanted to say next.

"I think it would be best for both of us if you didn't come back to Japan. I know this is a shock to you, but your destiny lies in your native country. I apologize if this seems harsh, but please believe that I only have your best interests at heart."

The tip of the brush handle came to rest between Rei's teeth. Absently she nibbled on it as she organized the rest of her thoughts.

"Please don't try to argue me out of this. I truly enjoyed our time together. I am a better person for knowing you and I hope you are better for knowing me. But that part of our lives has ended. To pursue this further would do us both more harm than good."

The priest contemplated the last line.

"May the gods favor you in your life to come," she wrote. Then she signed her name.

For the longest time, Rei just stared at the letter. Then finally she decided that the ink was dry and folded it into an envelope. Using a quill pen, the priest addressed the envelope in western characters she copied from a note Derek had left her after the season and sealed it.

And Rei suddenly had to fight back tears. She didn't want to say her final good-bye to Derek Johnson. He had come to mean a lot to her. But she had no choice.

He couldn't come back to Japan.

* * *

Jin Hatarakiburi lay in his hospital room, experimenting. Since this morning, he'd heard voices in his head. The thought scared him until Nurse Haibara had been in to check his hands, his vital signs and to change the intravenous drip. It was then he realized that the voice was different and he was hearing her thoughts. As she was leaving, Jin noticed the curve of her bottom through her scrubs and imagined what it would feel like in his hand.

And then Haibara jumped, startled by the sensation of something grabbing her bottom. She turned around and looked. And he could feel her surprise, then her indignation and finally her confusion when she found no one behind her. He knew what she was thinking.

For the rest of the morning, Jin felt the thoughts of others invade his head. If he concentrated, he could expel them. But he'd relax and a new person's thoughts would invade his mind. As he experimented, he found that it was easier to just concentrate on other things and allow the stream of other people's thoughts to recede into the background of his consciousness, like music from a radio turned on but not really listened to.

The experimentation stopped suddenly when he sensed the thoughts of Dr. Manaka. Was he imagining it? Then Dr. Manaka entered the room. Jin watched him approach and sensed the curiosity and concern the doctor had for him. What had he become, and how?

"How are you feeling, Hatarakiburi-san?" Manaka asked.

"Doctor," Jin replied, "I'm not sure what's happening to me."

"What do you mean?"

"I can," he hesitated, his mind boggled by what he was about to describe, "hear other people's thoughts."

"You think you hear voices?" Manaka inquired.

"Not voices," Jin shook his head. "I can sense what other people are thinking. Sometimes what they're feeling."

"What makes you certain that what you're sensing are other people's thoughts?"

Jin frowned. "Right now you're considering calling in a psychiatrist because you think I might be having schizo," and Jin paused over the large word, "phrenic episodes."

Manaka stopped and stared down at the patient.

"Now you can't understand how I knew that," Jin continued. "You're wondering if I made a logical conclusion or made a lucky. . ."

"How are you doing that?" Dr. Manaka asked.

"Don't you know?" Jin gasped, his voice trembling. "Doctor, what happened to me? What am I becoming? How did it happen?"

"I-I don't know," Dr. Manaka replied. "I've never run into anything like this before." He thought a moment and Jin could sense every thought he had. "With your permission, I'm going to call someone I know at the University of Electro-Communications in Chofu. He's doing research into this sort of thing. Maybe he can explain it. In the mean time, I'm scheduling you for a CAT-scan so we can see what's going on inside of your head. Have you ever had a CAT-scan before?"

"I don't even know what it is," Jin answered.

And suddenly he knew.

"Unfortunate," Manaka commented. "It would be nice to have been able to compare before and after. No matter."

"Is that going to help?" Jin asked.

"The more information we have, the more likely we'll be to finding out what happened," Manaka told him. "In the mean time, try to remain calm. There's no indication that this is in any way life-threatening."

"Doctor," Jin asked suddenly. "Did my accident cause this?"

"Without more information, I really can't say," Dr. Manaka told him.

But Jin could sense Dr. Manaka believed it had.

* * *

As they got out of Makoto's car, Minako glanced at her friend and could see she was still fretting.

"You know," Minako jabbed, "The Butterfly Palace isn't going to burn to the ground just because you're away from it for a half hour." Instantly Makoto flushed at being caught.

"I'm obsessing again, right?" Makoto replied.

"You?" Minako gasped. "If you're going through withdrawal being away from the place, you can go. I can set up a membership with this place all by myself." She grinned vapidly. "And I can tie my shoes by myself and everything."

"Stop bragging about recent accomplishments," Makoto needled. "And I want to introduce you to Sensei personally. I want him to know you're my friend."

"Does that get me a price break?" quipped Minako.

"So he can rat you out to me if you screw up," Makoto countered. "Sensei is an important person to me. This place was my refuge after my parents died. Sensei and Shinozaki were about the only people I could trust in those days. Hell, if I'd been smart enough to listen to him, I wouldn't have gotten into all the trouble I did. So I want to be the one to introduce you."

"Makoto, I'm just taking karate classes. I'm not going to marry him," fussed Minako.

"With your track record, I'm not so sure," Makoto judged. "Why would you suddenly want to take karate anyway?"

"I've been booked on a huge concert tour," explained Minako. "Doing a ninety minute set four nights a week is grueling work. I've got to be in shape for it. So every time I've got a concert tour or a grueling film schedule in the past, I've started some high-intensity training program. I've done aerobics, cardio-training and other exercise regimes in the past. This time I want to try karate. I always want to do something different to keep the boredom factor down." She smirked. "And this way I can fight off the wolves without having to change into Sailor Venus."

Makoto shook her head with a smile. "Only you could come up with a totally logical reason and still make it sound goofy." They came to the door of the dojo. "Well I guarantee Senshi will give you a workout. Just don't complain about the bruises or I'll give you another one. And don't do anything to embarrass me."

"Moi? Embarrass someone?" huffed Minako with mock indignation. "This is about my career. I can be totally serious about that. Of course, if you're that worried about me, we can work out together."

"Who's got time? I have to run a restaurant AND raise two kids," Makoto grumbled. "Plus you never know when World War III is about to start and the senshi will be needed."

The pair entered the dojo. Amid a dozen youths and young men practicing karate, one man spotted them and walked over. He was approaching sixty and his short black hair was graying at the temples. His eyes and jaw were lined and sagging, but his body was still hard and radiated power. As he approached the two women, his face lit up when he spotted Makoto.

"Kino!" he beamed. "It's been too long! How have you been?"

"I'm well, Sensei," she smiled back.

"I heard about you finally opening your restaurant," the man continued.

"Come by some night. Dinner's on me," Makoto said reverently.

"And you look familiar as well," he said, turning to Minako. "Do I know you?"

"Maybe from a few billboards," Minako shrugged.

"Sensei, this is my friend, Minako," Makoto explained. "She wanted to see if she could arrange for some . . ."

"Personal training," Minako interjected. Already some of the other students had recognized her and were buzzing among themselves. "I have to get in shape really quick and Makoto says you're the best."

"Minako?" the man questioned. "Aino? The actress?"

"You've seen my work?" Minako perked up.

"No."

"Oh," she said, deflating.

"I remember you from the newspapers," the man replied skeptically.

"Don't believe everything you read," Minako answered fatally.

"Sensei, Minako's a good person and she'll put in the work," Makoto told him. "And you've certainly had more troubled students in your day than she'll be."

"I make no judgments," he assured them. "I accept you as my student. If I feel you are not working hard enough, I will tell you to leave." He glanced at Makoto with a wry grin. "Perhaps she will be more willing to listen to my wisdom than some people were."

"Never going to let me live that down, are you?" Makoto grinned sheepishly.

"Great! If you want, we can arrange for a private workout," Minako said, then glanced at some of the males in the class. "Although maybe it would be better being the only girl in class."

"It," the instructor hesitated, "might become a distraction."

"Yeah, but for who?" Minako grinned lustily. Makoto rolled her eyes.

* * *

"Hey, that building," Usagi said as she and Ami walked down the street. "Didn't you go to cram school there back in the day?"

"Probably," Ami replied distantly. "I pretty much went to every cram school in Azabu-Juuban during my high school days."

"Oh," Usagi answered.

"And Minato-Ku."

"Wow, obsessive much?" Usagi asked. Then she shrugged. "Still, I hit every music store. To each his own, I guess."

They arrived at the front of an apartment building. Ami stopped before the door and took a shuddering breath.

"You can do this, Ami," Usagi cautioned.

"Do you know I'm flashing back to when Dad left?" Ami admitted.

"It wasn't the same thing," Usagi advised her. "Your dad wasn't rejecting you. He just couldn't live with your mom anymore."

"I know that," Ami whispered, then pointed to her temple, "here." She took a deep breath. "Let's go."

The two women ventured up to the apartment where Hayami Fujihara lived. Ami hesitated for a beat, then pressed the buzzer. When there was no answer after a time, she pressed it again.

"Maybe he's not home," Usagi guessed. "Why is it I never consider things like that?"

"No," Ami said, frowning. "I can hear movement inside." She pressed the buzzer again. "Someone's coming now."

The door opened just wide enough for Hayami to peer out. When he saw it was Ami, his face grew stern. However, his eyes didn't seem to completely focus.

"Ami," he said, momentarily startled. "Go away. You've no business here now."

Ami reacted as if Hayami had slapped her across the face. Her eyes began to water.

"I-I apologize, Hayami," she choked out. "I won't disturb you further." She turned to go, but Usagi stepped forward.

"Just a minute! You can't talk to her. . .!" Usagi growled, pushing her way into the room before Hayami could close the door. But her indignation was forgotten the moment she saw the young woman in the ancient kimono and the pink and violet hair levitating five feet off of the floor. "W-Who are you?" she gasped.

With the door wide open now, Ami could see the woman as well. Instant recognition clicked in her mighty brain. Ami's hand shot out and her henshin stick appeared in it.

"Mercurious!" she gasped with alarm.

Continued in Chapter 4


	4. Bonnun's Prey

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 4: "Bonnun's Prey"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

"Mercurious!" Ami gasped with alarm. Her henshin stick was out.

"Mercurious?" Usagi asked. She knew who the real Mercurious was and this multi-colored spirit wasn't him.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT, YOU RUDE WOMAN! THAT IS NOT MY NAME!" roared the hovering spirit. "How dare you insult me again by calling me that! My name is Loci Bonnun!"

"How dare YOU work your evil magic on an innocent man like Fujihara-kun!" Ami shot back, eyes flaring with protective anger.

"Ho ho ho!" Bonnun laughed into her sleeve. "Not as innocent as you think! Otherwise he wouldn't have fallen under my influence . . ."

"Mercury Planet Power Make Up!" Ami shouted.

As Usagi looked on in confusion, Ami transformed in an instant into Sailor Mercury. Bonnun, though, merely steeled herself for an attack.

"You let him go," Mercury barked angrily, "THIS INSTANT!"

"Yes!" Bonnun replied with excitement. "Let your passion overwhelm your reasoning! Give in to your worldly desires! You only make me stronger!"

By now it had occurred to Usagi to transform into Sailor Moon. Not liking what she was seeing from either Bonnun or Mercury, she pulled open her communicator and hit a specific button.

"MERCURY!" Sailor Mercury shouted, her hand snapping down to her side. "AQUA RHAPSODY!"

The titanic wave cascaded toward Bonnun, seeking to engulf her and then flash freeze around her. But the water peeled away as it neared her, dividing and flowing around her. Bonnun threw back her head and laughed.

"I'm far stronger than I was twenty years ago," she taunted. "Your powers can't touch me." Her eyes narrowed gleefully. "Oh, but I can still touch you."

Her hand shot out and energy beams of yellow and violet mixed and swirled as they impacted with Mercury. The senshi was shoved back and toppled to the floor, Sailor Moon's squeal of alarm in the background.

"Ahh," Mercury grimaced as she struggled to rise up. "My head - - so hard to think."

"And you're even more of a treasure of worldly passions than you were then," Bonnun gloated as she floated up to Mercury, closing the gap between them. "Since you don't seem to really know me, I'll tell you. I am Bonnun and I feed on the emotions that debilitate the mind. I usually linger in the Ichiban Prep School because teenage minds are such a kaleidoscope of raging, warring passions and desires. But I've found adults will work as well."

Mercury struggled to get up, but she suddenly lacked strength and coordination.

"You think you are above such emotions, but you're not," Bonnun gloated. "You only deny them, and by denying them, you make them stronger. Desire denied or suppressed becomes frustration and that's even more delicious than simple lust."

"No," Mercury whimpered, struggling to get up. But Bonnun reached toward her and the senshi swooned back onto the floor.

"You yearn for him," Bonnun leered, "as he yearns for you. But you deny it and suppress it, fear it and hide it away, as he does, until you're both a pair of bubbling cauldrons . . ."

"That's enough!" shouted Sailor Moon. Bonnon turned to her, irritation clear on her face. "Ami's feelings aren't something for you to trifle with! Neither are Fujihara-San's! You release them right now!"

Bonnun smiled. "Make me."

For a moment, Sailor Moon wondered how she was going to do that. But Mercury groaned and it seemed to spur Sailor Moon into action. The Moon Tier appeared in her hand.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" Sailor Moon called out. Silver energy shot out, surrounding Bonnun. The spirit flinched back, but the energy engulfed her. Mercury and Hayami both groaned as Bonnun drew more energy from them.

Then her crystal energy dissipated. Sailor Moon gaped. Bonnun was still there.

"I actually felt that!" Bonnun gasped in surprise. "You're stronger than you look! But I can draw from two victims at once. That means I can stand up to you."

"Oh yeah!" Sailor Moon retorted. She aimed the Moon Tier at Bonnun again.

Bonnun waved her arms, the sleeves of her kimono splaying. And suddenly the room turned into a black pool of nothing. There was no ceiling, no walls and no floor. There was no furniture, no door or windows, nothing for Sailor Moon to use as a reference point except for Bonnun and the prone bodies of Hayami and Sailor Mercury. Startled, Sailor Moon stepped backwards. The floor behind her seemed unsolid. Lacking reference points, she stumbled. There seemed to be no walls or floor to catch her. The Moon Tier fell from her hands as Sailor Moon frantically grabbed for support from something. Finally her hands blindly found something solid and she grabbed onto it, desperately holding on so as not to fall any further into - - nothing.

"I'm drawing energy from you, too," Bonnun told Sailor Moon. "It isn't as intense as with them, but it's there. Your desires for sweets and sleep, desires that keep you from focusing and sap your will. It's there and it's very tasty."

"Mercury!" Sailor Moon called out. "Please, you have to shake it off! You beat her once! You can do it again!"

"I'm stronger than I was then!" Bonnun snapped. "And her frustration and suppressed desire is deeper. I bathe in its dark glow and I've never felt this good!"

More yellow and violet energy struck Sailor Mercury. She arched up and let out a guttural howl.

"AMI!" wailed Sailor Moon.

* * *

Every time a doctor or nurse passed his hospital room, Jin Hatarakiburi seemed to know a little more about medicine. By the time the dietician came around with his evening meal, Jin felt he knew enough that he could replace any of the medical staff of this hospital. And the highest he'd finished was graduating plumbing school.

"And how are we feeling this evening, Hatarakiburi-san?" the dietician asked. She was an older, motherly type, slight of build, glasses weighing down her face, looking like a stiff wind would blow her away. Hardly a walking advertisement for nutrition. But then he didn't look like a doctor, either.

"Actually," Jin frowned suddenly, "I kind of have a headache."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the dietician sympathized. "Would you like me to tell the duty nurse?"

"That depends," Jin replied, smiling at the memory of the nurse he woke up to. "Is Nurse Haikurabi on duty?"

"Well," the dietician - - her name Jin suddenly realized was Mai Tanaka - - smiled knowingly. "I see you're getting better in some areas. I don't think Haikurabi is on duty at the moment." She patted his hand. "Besides, she's married."

Jin scowled and Mrs. Tanaka placed his tray on the tray stand over his bed.

"Oh, don't be too disappointed," Tanaka playfully admonished. "At least she'll hold your hand when she takes your pulse. Now you be sure to eat up. It'll help you keep your strength up and help you get the stiffness out of those injured hands of yours."

"Yes, ma'am," Jin said distantly. Already forgotten, Tanaka turned and left. The man stared at his wrapped hands.

Suddenly he got the urge to remove the gauze wrapping. In the storehouse of medical knowledge he suddenly had, Jin knew that the type of burns he had shouldn't be healed in this short a time. He knew that unwrapping them risked the skin improperly healing, or worse becoming infected. And yet, when the last of the gauze fell away, his hands were soft and beige and perfectly healed. Jin just stared. He knew this was impossible.

As impossible as him knowing the things he now knew.

Unable to comprehend it, Jin set it aside and picked up his bowl. A few bites in, his mind began to wander, back to Tomoyo Haikurabi. There wasn't anything really remarkable about her, but Jin still felt a deepening attraction to her. As the taste of the last bite of food he took lingered on his tongue, Jin recalled Haikurabi leaning over him, her black hair framing her face on both sides, her soft hands touching his arm.

And suddenly she was there, standing by the foot of his bed. She was dressed in her scrubs, stethoscope draped over her neck. For a moment he was startled by her presence. Then Jin looked closer and noticed that the back of the room could be seen through her. It wasn't really her, just a ghost or apparition.

"Projection," his mind suddenly thought.

That's what she was: a three-dimensional picture standing before him. And he had created it. He didn't know how, but he knew he had created it. And if that was the case...

The projection of Tomoyo Haiburabi smiled warmly at him. Then she reached up and languidly began undoing the top button of her scrub shirt. Her eyes locked on him the entire time, she undid the second and the third. Her hands brushed away the flaps of the top, a hint of flesh from her soft shoulder peeking through. Her hand grasped the fourth button, the one at her bodice. Jin stared, mesmerized. Even though he was manipulating the projection, it still held him spellbound.

Out of the blue, a sudden searing pain shot through his head. Jin grabbed his head with his hands, curling up on the bed into a little ball. The flesh under his hands, the flesh of his forehead and temples, throbbed. If felt like his brain was trying to push through his skull and escape. Jin's breath came in quick gasps. He wanted to scream out in pain, but couldn't muster the strength and coordination to take in the necessary air to scream. It hurt. Everything hurt.

"Good evening Hatarakiburi-san," the duty nurse said, strolling into the room. "Tanaka tells me you have a . . ."

The paper cup with the analgesic tablets dropped from the nurse's hand and rolled along the floor. She stared open-mouthed at Jin for three seconds, then scrambled back out the door to summon help. Jin didn't see or hear her. His attention was focused on what was happening to him. Though he couldn't see what was happening, he could feel it. Impossibly, it felt like his skull was expanding. Jin couldn't understand how that could be. It wasn't scientifically plausible.

But then, neither had anything else that had happened so far.

* * *

"Yes!" Bonnun shouted gleefully. "Feed me! Make me as strong as any demon! Oh, if only there was a way to make this last forever!"

"You leave her alone!" Sailor Moon shrieked. She dangled impotently from a big black glob of nothing and Bonnun laughed at her demand. The senshi looked around, but the Moon Tier was nowhere to be found. Nothing, in fact, could be found save for her and Bonnun, Hayami and Mercury.

Hayami groaned weakly. Sailor Moon didn't like the sound of it.

"S-So weak," Mercury wheezed out. Her transformation began to fade, reverting back to Ami Mizuno. Panic began to flood into Sailor Moon's mind. She had to do something.

"Moon Tiara . . .!" she began to say, reaching for her tiara in a desperate move to distract Bonnun away from Ami and Hayami. Then she realized: She had no tiara in her Eternal Sailor Moon form. Blue eyes widened in horror, then clamped shut in anguish at her failure. Ami and Hayami were both going to fall prey to this evil spirit and there was nothing she could do to stop it. "No!" she cried.

And the sound seemed to reverberate through the small apartment. Bonnun looked over in time to see the crescent moon mark on Sailor Moon's forehead vibrating oddly and in synchronization with the two red amulets on her odangos. In seconds the sound built until the sound waves buffeted Bonnun violently. The spirit barely righted herself as the cacophony died down. She stared in shock at the dangling senshi. Sailor Moon stared back in amazement.

"Did I do that?" she squeaked.

As if in answer, a section of the inky nothing surrounding them exploded inward, pushed by a gigantic fireball. It revealed the apartment building hallway. Framed in the doorway was Sailor Mars. The red senshi walked into the room, unaffected by the black nothing surrounding her. Her gaze was as cold as her fireball was hot.

"Who are you?" demanded Bonnun warily.

"I know what kind of spirit you are," Mars replied with contempt. "Your kind lurk in attics and doorways, preying on people in their weaker moments, fanning their flaws until it's a fire that consumes them. No respectable demon will associate with your kind."

"Big talk from a mortal!" Bonnun snapped.

Mars produced one of her sacred wards. "You picked the wrong people to leech off of," she said, pressing the ward to her forehead. "Ami is my friend, and so is Sailor Moon. And I even consider Fujihara-san a friend. And I don't like spirits preying on my friends!"

The ward shot from Mars' hand and headed straight for Bonnun. She threw her hand up reflexively and managed to block the ward with her forearm. The spirit flinched back. But to the surprise of all, Mars most of all, she didn't dissipate. Everyone stared for a moment. Then Bonnun began to smile.

"Of course," she grinned maliciously. "I taste it now. The worldly desires that weaken you, priest."

Sailor Moon stared at Mars in shock.

"The desire you have for the one person deep in your heart that you burn for above all else," Bonnun continued. "The yearning that you suppress because you fear rejection, fear betrayal, fear lying crushed and broken again, your heart in tatters."

Mars grunted like she'd been punched in the stomach. The senshi sank to one knee.

"Mars!" Sailor Moon cried out in alarm.

"Three of you to feed off of!" Bonnun squealed. "How could I get so lucky! I am going to be the most powerful Loci in all of Japan!"

"Feed off this!" Mars snarled, throwing her hands out in front of her. "Burning Mandala!"

The flaming sacred symbols surrounded Bonnun and she shrank back from them. The light from them cast a kaleidoscope of shadows and illumination on her face that seemed to suggest the spirit's supernatural power leaking away. To the side, Sailor Moon was awkwardly trying to climb up out of the nothing she was dangling in. Mars strained to maintain the Mandala, but she could feel it begin to weaken. Bonnun was right. Her emotional turmoil was sapping her powers. She needed to put earthly desires aside and become in tune with her spiritual center.

With that, Bonnun sundered the Mandala and it faded from sight.

"You're even more dangerous than that one," Bonnun growled. "As much as I'd love to drain you, it's too dangerous to leave you or her alive."

Mars watched Bonnun began to gather yellow and violet energies between her two hands. She doubted the others could see it. What she didn't doubt was the lethal tint of the energies. If they struck her, they might be strong enough to kill her. Even if they didn't, given her emotional turmoil, they were sure to incapacitate her and leave her, and the others, easy prey for Bonnun. Her hand went to her side, fingers splayed.

"Mars!" she spat out, hoping she was fast enough and strong enough. "Flame Sniper!"

The energy shot from Bonnun's hands like a cannon shot. It barreled toward Sailor Mars. Mars began to bring her flaming bow up, but began to fear she wouldn't make it. Then a swirl of white trimmed in yellow and blue passed in front of her. It took Mars a moment, but she realized Sailor Moon had jumped in front of her and taken the cannon shot of mystical energy full face.

Even more remarkably, she was still standing. As yellow and violet energy swirled around her, Sailor Moon glanced back at Mars and smiled.

"It's OK," she grunted. "Bonnun doesn't have as much effect on me as she," and Sailor Moon grimaced slightly, "as she does on you." She bluffed a confident wink. "Get her."

Mars nodded gratefully. She leaned to one side, aimed her bow just to the right of Sailor Moon's hip, and fired. The fiery arrow cleaved the room and pierced Bonnun chest high, passing through her form and dissipating behind her. Bonnun stiffened in shock, falling backwards. She tried to say something, but couldn't manage any sound. Her form began to crumble into dust, first her ancient kimono, then her yellow and purple hair, and finally her squat, thin body. The very last element of her seemed to pop, leaving behind the merest wisp of smoke.

Instantly the room returned to what it had been. Ami and Hayami went limp where they lay. Sailor Moon collapsed in a heap before Mars, propped up only by her arms pressed against the wood floor.

"Sailor Moon, are you all right?" Mars exclaimed.

"That hurt," Sailor Moon pouted. Mars reached over and began massaging her princess's shoulders.

"Thank you for shielding me," Mars said. "It was a stupid thing to do, though. You could have been killed."

"Well you could have been killed worse," Sailor Moon replied petulantly. It drew a warm smile from Mars.

Prying herself up from the floor, Mars went to check on Ami and Hayami. Sailor Moon faded back to Usagi. The moment her transformation faded, she heard her cell phone ringing. Emitting a sigh of fatigue, Usagi fished it out and answered it.

"Honestly, Usagi," she heard Luna fume on the other end. "Are you THAT busy that you can't answer your phone? This is the fourth time I've tried to reach you!"

Usagi pulled the phone from her ear and glared at it with narrow eyes.

Continued in Chapter 5


	5. An Accidental Legacy

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 5: "An Accidental Legacy"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

In the aftermath of Bonnun's exorcism, Rei and Usagi hovered around Ami and Hayami as they regained their strength and their wits. Both people seemed supremely embarrassed by what had occurred, as much for having their private feelings exposed as for having fallen victim to the supernatural spirit. After departing a few minutes, Rei returned with two cups of tea. She handed one to Usagi, who handed it to Ami - - after Rei stopped her from drinking it herself. The other she brought over to Hayami.

"Here," she said softly. "Maybe this will help some."

"Thank you," Hayami nodded, taking the tea. "I apologize for putting you through all of this."

"It's all right," Rei offered gently. "It's sort of my line of work anyway. I wouldn't apologize to you for asking you to reshelve a book."

Hayami nodded.

"Fujihara-san, don't feel embarrassed by what happened. Spirits like that prey on the vulnerabilities of humans. That's how they exist. And we all have vulnerabilities. I'm a trained priest who has faced a good many demons and evil spirits, and she still was able to affect me. A lay person like you and Ami didn't stand a chance."

"Listen to her, Ami," Usagi begged. "Rei's right."

"Yes, she is right," Ami frowned, staring into the cup of tea. "So, is it finally gone?"

"Unfortunately not," Rei informed her. "Low level spirits like that are like mosquitos. They're easily bred and hard to get rid of. She'll be reborn because humans too easily repress their desires, particularly in our culture. And, like mosquitos, in the right circumstances they can be quite dangerous. But if you take the proper precautions and don't repress your feelings so much, the worst they can be are pests."

"Perhaps that's why I seem to fall victim so easily," Ami mused. Then she seemed to make a decision. "I've wasted too many years repressing my feelings."

Ami continued to stare into the cup. Silently Rei got up and eased over to Usagi. She gestured toward the kitchen. Usagi stared at her without understanding. Rei gestured more emphatically, eliciting another blank response. Finally she shoved the blonde and herded her toward the kitchen. It was only then that Usagi got the message.

"Hayami," Ami began, her voice trembling. "I realize you may not be able to emotionally commit to our being married due to the life I lead. I understand, and I grant that you're within your rights to do so. But I feel we're drifting apart and I - - just can't see the logic in that. While I admit I can't speak for you, I've felt the loss of our friendship greatly over the past few months. I find that having you in my life is a great source of strength and comfort to me. So I'm asking you to at least stay in my life as my good friend, if nothing else. Perhaps I'm asking a lot . . ."

"You're not," Hayami croaked out. "I've missed you, too, Ami. I hadn't realized how lonely my life had been until you weren't in it anymore. I admit, I worry about what could happen to you when you're Sailor Mercury. Those scenes from Asahikawa were - - difficult to watch. But I have no right to ask you to give that role up. You're too important to everyone." He inhaled. "And I've found that not being with you doesn't make me worry any less. It just makes me - - unhappy."

Ami peeked over at him.

"That wasn't what caused us to drift apart," Hayami proposed. "It was wondering if we were entitled to just be friends if we couldn't be married."

"Yes," Ami nodded.

"I think I've concluded that we are," Hayami decided. "Ami, I would be honored to be your friend for as long as we live."

"Thank you," Ami squeaked.

"And I would also be honored," Hayami said haltingly, "if you would allow me to be your husband."

A grin grew from ear to ear on Ami's face.

"YAY!" came a voice from the kitchen.

"Quiet, Ditz!" came another.

Ami twittered. "Come on out, you two," she said. "I would be honored to be your wife, Hayami, for as long as we both live."

"I KNEW you two couldn't stay apart!" Usagi squealed, racing out of the kitchen. "I've been searching the catalogs the whole time and I've got JUST THE GOWN picked for you, Ami! You'll. . .!"

"Usagi, stop," Ami said firmly.

"Amiiiii, don't DO this to me!" Usagi whined.

"If it's all the same to you, Ami," Hayami ventured, "I'd like to see you in a wedding kimono."

"You would?" Ami asked, surprised that Hayami might have other interest in her besides her mind. Rei smirked knowingly.

"The Shrine's yours whenever you want it," Rei told her. "Just name a date. And I won't hear of anyone else performing the ceremony." She turned to Usagi. "So, is a traditional wedding OK with you, MISS Wedding Planner?"

"I can do traditional," Usagi shrugged. Then her shoulders slumped. "But Ami would have looked so beautiful in that gown I picked."

* * *

Dr. Manaka leaned against the nurse's station desk for support. It had been a draining crisis. He hadn't believed the page when he got it that patient Hatarakiburi had suffered some sort of seizure and developed massive cranial swelling. Seeing it didn't help his ability to believe it. Hatarakiburi's cranium had swelled to twice its normal size. And to top it off, only one of the floor nurses would go near him. One had been scared off by his deformed head. A second ran in fear when he began shouting intimate details about her life. Thankfully Nurse Hitari had stayed with Manaka long enough to determine that the swelling wasn't the result of a massive hemorrhage or build up of fluid in the skull. Hatarakiburi had calmed, with the aid of a sedative, though not before a capped cup of water went flying across the room, launched as far as he could tell by nothing.

Now he was studying the x-rays and the CAT-scan results. There were obvious abnormalities in the cranial area that were telling him something, but he didn't have the expertise to know what. But a thought did occur to him. Just then, a man walked up to him. He was short and thin, nearing fifty, with thick horn rim glasses and slicked back black hair. He looked like an accountant. But he bowed crisply to the doctor.

"Dr. Manaka?" the man asked. Manaka nodded. "I am Hiroki Yamashita of the University of Electro-Communications. You contacted me about a patient of yours who might be demonstrating psycho-kinetic abilities." He gestured to the file. "Is that his chart? May I see them?"

Manaka hesitated for a moment, since this was a patient's confidential chart. Then he relented and handed it over. Yamashita immediately looked over the CAT-scan.

"Since I called you, there's been a development," Manaka told him. "The patient has developed pronounced cranial swelling."

"In just the past hour?" Yamashita asked. Manaka nodded. "Were there any other overt signs of psychic ability?"

"During the incident, he started yelling random things as if he were reading it from the minds of the other people present," Manaka related. "And I saw a cup fly across the room for no reason."

"Telepathy and telekinesis," Yamashita nodded.

"And there are several abnormalities in the frontal lobes of his brain," Manaka pointed out. Yamashita nodded.

"What was he being treated for?" Yamashita asked.

"Massive electrical shock and burns. Dr. Yamashita," Manaka began, momentarily hesitant to give voice to his thoughts, "this man was a maintenance worker at Fukushima Daichi. I'm no expert in radiation-related deformation. . ."

"Yes, the deformity in his frontal lobe could be explained by exposure to radiation," he nodded. "Although it's a stretch to think such mutation would occur this quickly. The accident only happened twenty months ago. Even if this is just a worsening of a deformity he was born with, the timetable is highly accelerated."

"I can't think of anything else that would explain this deformity," Manaka replied back. "Or the sudden massive cranial swelling."

"And this area would be the part of the brain where PKE ability would manifest from," Yamashita added. "Electrical shock, you say? Is he still in pain?"

"No," Manaka reported. "And his burns are healing at an accelerated rate, too."

"May I examine him?"

The two doctors entered the room. Hatarakiburi turned his massive head to them and that startled Manaka. He should have been asleep.

"The sedative isn't powerful enough to affect me any longer," Jin replied to no spoken question.

"Hello," Yamashita began. "I . . ."

"You're Dr. Hiroki Yamashita, Doctor of Science in Physics and Encephalo-Biology at the University of Electro-Communications," Jin finished the introduction. "You've come to see me perform some tricks so you can determine whether I demonstrate any psycho-kinetic abilities."

"You read that?" Yamashita asked.

"Sometimes it's difficult to shut other people's thoughts out," Jin sighed. He turned to Manaka. "So, Doctor, any progress?"

Manaka began to speak, then realized Hatarakiburi already knew what he was going to say.

"Cranial mutation," Jin repeated. "And the x-ray showed my brain has grown to twice the size of a normal human." Jin stopped. "Normal. Well, it would explain the cranial swelling. So you think the combination of radiation exposure at the nuclear plant and the massive electrical charge I endured caused a chemical reaction at the DNA level and spurred a encephalitic expansion in both size and ability? It would be the most logical explanation."

"Y-You think so?" Manaka asked.

"Just because something has never happened before doesn't make it impossible," Jin replied. He glanced at Yamashita. "You're eager to find out the scope of my abilities."

Hatarakiburi looked over at the chair at the foot of the bed. To the amazement of both doctors, they watched the chair lift into the air as if held by invisible hands. It didn't wobble. Yamashita looked over to Hatarakiburi for signs of strain. He found none.

"Are you doing that?" Manaka asked.

"Of course," Jin replied. He mentally set the chair down. Then he gazed out the window. "Prime Minister Hino is working late tonight."

"Do you see him?" Yamashita asked.

"As plainly as I can see you," Jin told them. "He's bartering with the heads of his party's Diet coalition to keep them behind his economic reforms." Jin frowned. "Never did trust him."

"Dr. Manaka," Yamashita said suddenly, turning to his colleague, "when will Hatarakiburi-san be able to be released?"

"I-I don't know," Manaka gasped. "We haven't determined conclusively what caused his current state or whether or not it's potentially harmful . . ."

"You want to study me," Jin stated. Yamashita turned to him.

"It would be a great benefit to science," Yamashita said. "We could learn more about your condition, how it came about, how far it's likely to progress, whether it could develop into a harmful condition."

"Let me think about it," Jin replied.

"Hatarakiburi-san, I don't advise making any commitments until we've determined that it's safe for you to be discharged," Manaka protested.

"It's not your decision, Doctor," Jin bristled. He undid the gauze around his hands and revealed that the burns on his hands were gone. "I feel well enough to leave now - - and I don't really think you could stop me."

* * *

As he lay in bed, Jin Hatarakiburi reflected on the visit the previous day from Dr. Yamashita and wondered where his life was headed. How long would it take to cure him? Could he be cured?

Did he want to be cured? There were good and bad aspects to his new abilities. Looking like a freak for the rest of his life didn't appeal to him. He recalled the horrified exclamation of the nurse when she saw his skull expanding. And the continuous buzzing of other people's thoughts was annoying. He'd managed to learn to ignore them most of the time, the way he ignored the furnace in the winter when it kicked on. But they were still there, and would intrude upon his consciousness at unexpected times. Plus there were the looks he'd get from people who knew or who realized that he knew what they were thinking; that look like he'd just violated them. He didn't do it on purpose, most of the time. They had no business giving him such accusing stares.

But there were also benefits to his abilities. He only had to look at the cup of water on his tray and think about it coming to him and it did. He ate his dinner manipulating his spoon with his mind. Lifting the bed he lay on with his mind was no longer any more of an effort than lifting a piece of paper with his hand. And he never felt so good in all his life.

Then there was the ability to see other places and other events as if he were there. Mentally he'd explored almost everywhere in Tokyo, from the seats of power and industry to a women's public bath. It wasn't a curse to have these abilities. If it made him abnormal, then abnormal was a good thing.

Then he caught his reflection in the plate cover on his tray. If only he could use his abilities to remake his appearance so that he looked like everyone else.

His head flopped back onto the pillow. And he felt the thought. It was Nurse Haikurabi, the one he had felt an attraction to. He recognized her thoughts. And as she passed his room on the way to the nurse's station, she momentarily thought about him and how hideous he looked now. And how she felt sympathy for him and anger at herself for thinking that he was hideous and scary, but all the same there was no way she could ever bring herself to look at him again. How the others put up a brave face when they went in to treat him, but that she just couldn't.

Jin scowled. Why had this happened to him? Dr. Manaka suspected that the plant he worked at had altered him and the electrical charge he'd taken had accelerated the process. The electrical discharge had just been an accident - - the loose wire that had caused the pump's malfunction had discharged into him. It was his carelessness in not powering the pump down first that had led to it. But the nuclear plant itself - - that was the company's fault. They knew it was dangerous, and yet they sent untrained men like him in anyway, to clean up their mess. They said the radiation suit would protect him. It wouldn't surprise him now if he found out they knew all along it wouldn't.

And it wouldn't have happened in the first place if the company had taken proper precautions. He'd seen the reports on the hearings Dietman Hino led, investigating Tokyo Electric Power. He'd read the quote Dietman Hino had placed in the record, from a Sailor Senshi, that TEPCO had deliberately shorted the plant on its safeguards to save money. The senshi wouldn't lie about that. It made him mad. It made him . . .

"Hatarakiburi-san," came a voice from the door.

Jin hadn't sensed him. He'd been too preoccupied with his own thoughts. The man, an ordinary man in a tailored suit and a stance of importance, entered the room. As he got a good look at Jin, Jin sensed the man mentally recoil, though he managed to conceal the reaction. He sat a briefcase down on the night stand next to Jin's bed. As he opened it, thoughts flashed into Jin's mind. He was Kon Momoyama and he was an attorney on staff with Tokyo Electric Power.

"Yes," Jin said suspiciously.

"On behalf of Tokyo Electric Power, I wish to convey our deepest regrets that you were injured on the job with our company," Momoyama said with practiced smoothness. "Rest assured that the company will absorb all of your medical costs for as long as you are incapacitated and we hope for a speedy recovery for you."

Jin just studied him. The attorney took out a sheet of paper.

"We would also greatly appreciate it if you would sign this agreement," Momoyama continued. He placed the paper on Jin's tray and produced a pen.

"What is it?" Jin asked. He already knew, but wanted to see if this man would tell him the truth.

"An agreement terminating any future legal action against Tokyo Electric Power or any of its subcontractors for indemnification relating to this incident," Momoyama explained.

"I sign this and forfeit any right to sue," Jin summarized.

"Essentially," the attorney nodded.

"Why would I sign this?" Jin asked.

"Well, Hatarakiburi-san, it has been determined by our on-site inspectors that the incident was the result of your negligence in not powering down the pump before you started repair work," Momoyama replied. "Some other party might try to convince you to attempt legal action against Tokyo Electric Power, thinking to profit from your action. This way, both the company and you would be spared a drawn out, financially draining legal action. After all, the company has been very generous to you. They were under no legal obligation to pay your medical expenses for you."

"Generous. Yes, they've given me all sorts of unexpected presents." Jin was silent for a moment. "And if I don't sign," he said and immediately sensed the answer, "does the company withdraw its - - generosity?"

"It would not be legally prudent to be providing financial remuneration to a party who is engaged in legal action against them," Momoyama said diplomatically.

Jin's eyes narrowed.

At the nurse's station, Nurse Haikurabi was entering chart information into the patient database for the patient in room fourteen. It was a normal, routine shift. She liked those shifts. Routine shifts meant peaceful patients recovering on schedule. That was a good thing. It was always a good thing to see peaceful patients recovering on schedule.

All at once, the floor was rocked by the sound of an explosion strong enough to blow the door off of room three at the end of the hall. The door shot across the hall, slammed into the wall and fell to the floor with a loud crash. Glass shattered all along the floor. The shockwave from the room knocked Nurse Haikurabi from her chair. Pulling herself up, she looked down the hall even as an orderly ran to the room to see what had happened.

Her heart sank. It was Hatarakiburi's room.

Forcing herself into the room, Nurse Haikurabi looked around in shock. Every piece of furniture and equipment had been flattened. It was like a massive munition had exploded in the center of the room, and yet there were no scorch marks. As she panned right, a horrifying sight caught her eye. It was a man crushed against the wall, a bloody stain covering the wall behind him. Momentarily nauseous, Haikurabi looked away. That's when she saw it. Out through the broken window, she saw Hatarakiburi.

And they were on the sixth floor. He was levitating away from the hospital.

Continued in Chapter 6


	6. Rogue State

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 6: "Rogue State"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Rei mounted the steps to Hikawa Shrine with a sense of accomplishment. She'd dispatched the predatory spirit Bonnun. More importantly she'd helped, in her own small way, to get Ami and Hayami back together again. She felt even prouder of that. It felt good to help two people find each other. Maybe that's why Usagi did it so often.

"No, she's just a meddling busybody," Rei chuckled to herself.

"Welcome back, Hino-Sensei," Akira said, walking up to her. A pair of teenage girls sighed as he passed, then scampered off, whispering and giggling to each other. "From the look on your face, I'm guessing that your mission was successful."

"More so than I could have imagined," Rei replied happily. "Oh, and just to let you know, we'll be having a wedding ceremony here in the near future."

"Mizuno-san and Fujihara-san?" Akira guessed. Rei nodded. "Your work? Or was Chiba-san finally able to wear them down?"

"It was a joint effort," Rei smiled. "Everything all right here?"

"Business as usual," Akira informed her.

"Then why don't you go home to your wife and kids. I think I can handle things." Rei glanced at the two teens. "Although I hate to deprive the local school girls of their crush."

"They'll recover," Akira said. "And any extra time I can spend with my kids is gratefully accepted, Hino-Sensei. I'll see you tomorrow."

After a quick look around the grounds to satisfy herself that everything was in order, Rei headed for the shrine. Once she got inside, though, she became uneasy. Beside the phone, the light on the answering machine was blinking, a sight that irrationally always filled her with dread.

"Hmm," Rei thought, scowling at the machine that she couldn't read. "Whenever there's a message on this thing, it's always been either bad news or Usagi wanting to waste time with some trivial matter." She stared at it for a few more moments, but the machine still wouldn't yield any secrets to her vision. "I hate machines."

With trepidation, Rei pushed the button to play the message.

"Rei?" came Derek's voice from the machine. Rei jumped with momentarily alarm. She could tell he was upset. "Are you there? Pick up!" He waited. "I just got your letter. I'll be there on the first flight I can get. I, at least, think I deserve a little better than a kiss-off by mail!"

The message ended and Rei's heart sank. Just what she didn't want to happen.

* * *

Aya Matsumoto looked up from her computer screen to find a startling sight. A man stood before her desk and she was certain that he hadn't been there a second ago. He was dressed in shabby jeans and an old sweatshirt. But the most startling thing about him was his deformed, over-sized cranium. Aya just sat there, staring up at him in shock as he frowned at her.

"I'm here to see the president," the man said to her. Then, without waiting for permission, he swept by her desk and headed into the office behind her. Aya watched him go, still in shock. Only when he disappeared into the room did she act. Her hands flew to the phone and she punched in the number for building security.

Things like this just didn't happen at Tokyo Electric Power.

The president looked up from the report he was reading and saw something he'd never seen other than during the science fiction films he'd watched as a boy. He started to reach for the phone to punch in security's number.

"Your receptionist has already called them," Jin Hatarakiburi said.

"W-Who . . .?"

"Who am I?" Jin said, completing the thought for the man. "I'm Tokyo Electric Power's bastard son."

The man stared up at him, hopelessly confused.

"I'm Jin Hatarakiburi," Jin continued. "I was a maintenance worker at the Daiichi Nuclear Plant." There was no response other than confusion. "You don't know about it? About the accident?"

"I'm well aware of what happened when the earthquake hit," the president sputtered.

"NOT THAT!" spat Jin. "MY ACCIDENT! Over two weeks ago!" He stared down at the man behind the desk. "You didn't know. How could you not know?"

"I run a huge corporation," he replied. "I can't possibly know everything that happens in every division. That's why we have a hierarchy of division heads and managers." He paused, trying to decide how to broach the subject.

"Yes, this is a result of radiation exposure from the plant," Jin replied, reading the question. "I've been in the hospital for over two weeks because of it. My old life is gone because of it."

"Well, I certainly sympathize with what you've gone through. You have my apologies. And we'll try to do everything we can to help you . . ."

"Yes, your attorney already told me the conditions that come with your 'help'," scowled Jin. Just then, four security guards entered the room. Jin whirled on them and gestured with his hand. Each man was hit with an invisible force and slammed against the wall. They all slumped to the floor.

"How . . .?"

"Another gift from being exposed to your plant," Jin sneered.

"Look, what happened to you is tragic! But you knew the risks when you signed on at the plant!"

"No, I didn't! I'm a plumber! It was a job! That suit we always had to wear was supposed to shield us! That's what they told us! Nobody said anything about exposure risks! Nobody said that it could affect our bodies permanently! We were just sent in blindly to clean up the mess!"

The president turned and looked at nothing in particular. Jin studied his thoughts.

"Damn them. That branch is completely out of control."

"The nuclear energy division," Jin read out loud.

"They hid things from the company. They made deals with members of the government, covered up accidents, lied about installing faulty safety procedures, all to protect their own interests. They've shamed this company! Turned its reputation into mud! Nobody can get at them! They're so firmly entrenched in the corporation that nobody can seem to fully touch them!" He sat back in his chair, amazed. "Not even me, apparently. I guess I'm going to be the next one who has to resign in disgrace."

Jin examined him for a few moments. Then he turned and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?"

"To visit the head of your nuclear division," Jin responded. "I'm going to clean your company up for you."

The moment he left, the executive got on the phone and dialed the Tokyo police.

* * *

It had been a long day for Sanjuro co-managing the Butterfly Palace. What made it easier to take was the smiling faces and happy sounds of his two children when he picked them up from school. Ichiro got in the back while Akiko planted herself in the front passenger seat. Ichiro deferred to her sister's desire to ride up front reluctantly, and only because she was older - - and bigger.

"So how was school, gang?" Sanjuro asked as he pulled out into traffic.

"I learned how to multiply by five now!" Ichiro said proudly.

"Anybody can do that," sighed Akiko.

"I can remember a time when you couldn't," Sanjuro told his daughter. "Last week, wasn't it?"

"NO IT WASN'T!" roared Akiko, while Ichiro laughed.

"Let your brother finish."

"But we had a guest speaker in our class," Akiko protested.

"Oh? Who was it?"

"Somebody from the Diet," Akiko related. "Her name was, um - - Togashi."

"Momoko Togashi?" Sanjuro asked. Akiko nodded. "She's that new member of the Diet who's stirring things up."

"She talked about how you can be anything you want to be if you only try hard enough," Akiko said. "She sounds like Mom."

"Is Mom going to have dinner with us tonight?" Ichiro ventured hopefully.

"Sorry, son," Sanjuro told him. "Your mom has to be at the restaurant."

"She always has to be at the restaurant," Ichiro replied glumly. Sanjuro glanced at him and then at Akiko. Akiko was trying to hide it, but she was disappointed as well.

The car pulled up in its designated parking spot behind the restaurant. Taking the special stairway up to their apartment over the restaurant, Sanjuro ushered his children inside.

"OK, I'll go down and get the main course," Sanjuro told them. "Akiko, think you can whip up a nice appetizer?" She nodded.

"I'll set the table!" Ichiro volunteered.

"OK," Sanjuro said. Then he added, "But only carry one plate at a time. Don't try to pick up four like last time. That's stoneware and its still pretty heavy."

"Yes, Dad," Ichiro scowled.

Arriving in the kitchen of the restaurant, Sanjuro found a familiar scene: Makoto cooking a dish while she supervised - - some might say micro-managed - - two other chefs and the two dish washers. Everything smelled heavenly and the kitchen was as clean as a used kitchen could be, and still she wasn't satisfied. As she sprinkled herbs into a skillet browning off some fish, Sanjuro came up behind her. He wrapped his burly arms around her waist and kissed her neck.

"Hi, San-San," she cooed, pressing back against him while deftly keeping the fish from sticking. "Kids get back OK?"

"They're upstairs getting the table set for dinner," he told her.

"I've already prepared something. It's over there," she pointed to a to go container sitting on a table.

"Well," Sanjuro began, "I'm sure it's wonderful. But the kids want something else for dinner besides that."

"Oh? What?" Makoto asked, putting her fish off of the fire and turning to him. "Please don't tell me it's cake. They have enough sweets as it is."

"It's not cake," chuckled Sanjuro.

"Then what is it?"

"You," he told his wife. "They'd like you to eat dinner with them. And, to tell the truth, I'd like it, too."

"I'd like to, San-San," Makoto grimaced. "But I'm just so busy down here. The dinner rush is beginning to come in and . . ."

"Babe," Sanjuro said, pressing a finger over Makoto's lips. "You're a great chef. But there are some other pretty good chefs in this kitchen, too. They can handle it."

"Yes, Ikegami-San, we can handle it," offered one of the other chefs, a tiny little woman with black hair pulled back behind her head.

"No, I really should . . ." Makoto began.

"Babe, there are a lot of great chefs in this world," Sanjuro told her. "But there's only one person who can be mother to your children."

Makoto stiffened. "Ouch," she whispered, looking down. "That was a real gut shot."

"Sorry," Sanjuro offered. "But sometimes it takes a gut shot to get someone's attention. I know how much this restaurant means to you, but I know how much Akiko and Ichiro mean to you, too. You've got a very talented staff who know their jobs. They're not going to burn the place down or poison all the customers if you take an evening off."

"I never intended," Makoto struggled not to cry. "That wasn't why I was always here. I just - - I love this place." She sobered. "But I love my family, too."

"Ikegami-San," the other chef said. "You've been working every day almost since the place opened. Go be with your family."

Without resistance, Makoto allowed Sanjuro to lead her to the back stairwell that led up to their apartment.

"Were they hurt bad?" Makoto asked.

"They're not hurt," Sanjuro told her. "They know you love them. They just miss you. They know they have to share you with the world when you're Sailor Jupiter. They just want to know that they're at least as important as your job."

"San-San, smack me in my big dumb head for ever letting this situation get to this point," Makoto told her husband.

The door opened. The children turned expectantly, anticipating their father's return. The sight that greeted them made their hearts leap.

"Mom!" Ichiro exclaimed. He ran over and jumped into Makoto's arms. Makoto caught him and hugged him to her, while her free hand reached down and stroked Akiko's head. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"Sure am, Champ," Makoto smiled. "The restaurant's had me long enough. It's about time I spent some time with the best kids in the world."

Akiko took hold of Makoto's hand and pulled her toward the dinner table while Sanjuro brought up the rear, dinner in his hands and a warm grin on his face.

* * *

The door buzzer sounded at the Chiba household.

"Mamo-chan, could you get that?" Usagi called out from her drawing board. "I want to get this page done before Sanoko-chan gets here!"

"You wouldn't be hurrying now if you'd started when I told you to start," Luna sat by the drawing table and fussed.

"And you wouldn't be sitting here nagging me," Usagi replied calmly as she finished the detail of The Dark Lord's armor in panel four, "if you'd take my advice," and she stopped for a moment to judge the drawing, "go over to Mina-chan's place, kiss Artemis right on the lips and not come up for air for three days."

"Well!" huffed the little black cat. She stuck her tail straight up and walked out.

"Make it four days," Usagi added, smirking in triumph. "That should take some of the starch out of your corset." She began drawing panel five. "Who was at the door, Mamo-chan?"

"Narita-san," Mamoru replied. Usagi glanced up and saw Sanoko standing behind him, her portfolio in her hands.

"Sorry if I'm early, Chi. . .er, Usagi," Sanoko grinned.

"You're not early. I'm late," Usagi sighed, going back to her drawing. "I'll look over your pages as soon as I finish this one."

"Is it OK if I watch?" Sanoko asked.

"I'm sure there are other things more entertaining," Usagi said.

"Well," Sanoko smirked, "I could watch your husband."

"Watch me," Usagi frowned.

"Would you like something to eat?" Mamoru offered. "I can fix you something."

"Oh, that's OK. I can grab something when I get back home," Sanoko waved.

"Go ahead," Usagi told her. "We've got plenty left over from tonight's meal. If you don't eat it, I'll just eat it tonight at midnight and that won't be good for anybody." She continued drawing as she spoke.

"Well," Sanoko weakened. By then Mamoru had returned with a hot plate of food. Sanoko smiled warmly and took the plate. After a bite, her eyes bulged. "This is great! It beats noodles in a cup! Of course, most things do. Did you cook this, Chiba-senpai?"

"I wish," Usagi sighed as she drew. "It's from a wonderful restaurant I know called The Butterfly Palace. You should go there."

"Maybe someday when my budget is bigger than noodles in a cup," Sanoko replied.

Just then, Luna scampered into the room. The cat stood there looking very agitated.

"What's up with Luna?" Sanoko asked.

"She needs a man," Usagi answered.

"Meow!" Luna suddenly exclaimed. "Meow, meow!"

"Maybe she smelled the food," Sanoko wondered. She plucked a piece with her chopsticks and held it to Luna. "Want some?"

Luna ignored the food and, standing on her hind legs, reached up with her forelegs and pushed against Usagi's hip.

"Um, Narita-san, we wouldn't want to keep you here too late," Mamoru started to say, eying Luna. "How about we give you the pages we have and you can pick up the one Usako is working on next time."

"Just give me a few more minutes," Usagi pleaded.

"Meow!" Luna cried.

"Oh, Luna, scat!" huffed Usagi.

"Would you like me to drive you, Narita-san?" Mamoru asked, giving her the finished pages and a check.

"No, I'm good," Sanoko shook her head, exchanging the inked pages for the others. "See you in a few days. Thanks for dinner." The door closed and not a moment too soon for Luna.

"Gracious, I thought she'd never leave!" the cat exclaimed.

"Luna! Manners!" gasped Usagi.

"Mamoru, turn the television on to the news channel!" Luna demanded. Mamoru moved to comply. "Usagi, you need to see this!"

"Just let me finish this panel," Usagi answered.

"NOW!"

"OK! Make up your mind! First you want me to work on my manga, then you . . .!" Usagi began. She stopped when she got a look at the news.

The multistory office building that housed Tokyo Electric Power was missing part of its fourteenth floor. A huge hole had been blown in the middle of the building.

Continued in Chapter 7


	7. Shunshuu-Dono

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 7: "Shunshuu-Dono"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Minako Aino closed the door of the apartment she shared with her cat, Artemis, and locked it. It was after six, but the day had been well spent. The final arrangements for the concert tour were made. She'd spent two hours at the karate dojo and another four rehearsing with her dance choreographer and the backup dancers for the show itself. Though physically she was tired, mentally she was satisfied. About the only thing that could make this day better was if she had a date with a tall, dark and handsome man.

"Mina!" Artemis exclaimed, scampering into the room with his tail at attention. "I was just about to page you!"

"So much for tall, dark and handsome," muttered Minako. "What's up, fuzzy?"

"Take a look at the news report on my lap top!"

That meant sailor business. Sighing with frustration, Minako walked to the kitchen counter.

"Wow, that was one Hell of a fart!" Minako quipped, surveying the picture of the hole in the side of the office building.

"Police reports are saying twenty-six dead," Artemis informed her.

"Terrorist attack? Whose offices are those?"

"Tokyo Electric Power. My building schematics are saying that's where their nuclear division is housed."

"Environmental terrorism? They're not usually bombers."

"That wasn't a bomb. There's no chemical residue that would indicate explosives. Thing is, the police are only looking for one guy, so it isn't an armed squadron."

"Have the others been notified?" Minako asked, headed for the door.

"Yes," Artemis told her. "And I called a cab for you. It should be outside in a few minutes."

"You're the best, fuzzy. I'll call Superintendent Sakurada and try to get more info while I'm in transit." She sighed. "And I SO wanted to kick back with a horror movie tonight."

"Bad enough you've got to live a real one," Artemis mumbled as she left.

* * *

"And I am SO behind on my deadlines," moaned Sailor Moon as she and Sailor Mercury passed through a police line and into the office building. "I did not need this to happen now."

"I doubt it's a convenience for anybody, Sailor Moon," Mercury replied. The pair spotted Sailor Venus waiting by an elevator and headed her way.

"Hey," Venus nodded. "Mars and Jupe are already up there looking around." The elevator opened and the three senshi got in.

"Do we know anything else about the situation?" Mercury asked. "The news reports were speculating about a possible terrorist attack."

"I talked to Sakurada," Venus replied. "Witness reports indicate one guy walking into the place and then things start exploding. After that, your usual mass panic and general chaos. She said he seemed to be targeting executives of TEPCO's nuclear division."

"That might indicate a motive other than terrorism," Mercury mused. "Do the police have any leads on the type of explosive used?"

"No explosives," Venus shook her head. "Artemis confirms it. He'd just wave his hand and people were flung back against the wall - - or through windows. Sakurada said he choked one guy to death without even touching him."

"Oh my goodness!" gasped Sailor Moon.

"Advanced telekinesis?" Mercury spoke distantly. Already she had her computer out and was hacking into the building security cameras. Moments later she had a picture on the screen. Sailor Moon gasped audibly at the picture of Jin Hatarakiburi. Mercury studied it.

"Hey!" Venus exclaimed. The elevator arrived at the floor and the three senshi stepped off. "He looks like those alien guys in that Star Trek episode! What were they called? Talosians!"

"He's an alien?" gasped Sailor Moon.

"Who's an alien?" they heard Jupiter ask. Mars and Jupiter were approaching.

"He isn't an alien," Mercury sighed. "The facial features are clearly Japanese. However, the advanced cranial development might account for increased psycho-kinetic ability."

"You're saying the guy's a nut job? No duh," Venus commented.

"No, psycho . . .in simpler terms, mind over matter," Mercury explained. "The ability to manipulate solid matter with electromagnetic energy generated by the brain. It's mostly theoretical. Although if you recall, Sailor Saturn demonstrated some rudimentary abilities in that area."

"But why would he do this?" demanded Sailor Moon. "Why kill all of those people? Why all this destruction?"

"Must have been mad about something," Venus surmised.

"That fits," Mars nodded. "I'm getting tremendous residual feelings of anger in here," as they stepped into the part of the building that housed the nuclear division. "Some of it is probably from the victims, but there's a lot here that has to be from him."

"I've streamed the surveillance camera file to Artemis," Mercury said. "Hopefully he can get an identification of our suspect. I wonder if TEPCO had anything to do with his cranial deformity."

"That would be a reason to rampage," Venus commented.

"And is his rampage done?" Jupiter wondered out loud.

"That might depend on whether his victims were random or targeted," Mercury deduced.

* * *

In the basement of the office building across the street from where the police and the senshi had gathered, Jin Hatarakiburi huddled next to the furnace in the corner and tried to keep warm. Dressed only in the shirt and pants that he had mentally remade out of the molecules of his hospital gown, Jin shivered and got as close to the dark metal of the furnace as he could.

After his orgy of vengeance at the TEPCO nuclear division, Jin had felt strangely drained. He'd discovered he could use his telekinetic abilities to pass himself harmlessly through solid walls, which aided in his escape after building security rushed the room. He also found that he could use those abilities to gently lower himself to the pavement below. The startled shouts of the people on the street still rang in his ears. But using his power a lot seemed to drain him. Though he was now more than human, he found he still had human needs for food and sleep. Passing through the walls of the office building across the street from TEPCO amid the chaos of the event, Jin sought shelter in the building's darkened basement heating complex. By that time, he was openly shaking and light-headed.

"Must be part of it," Jin mumbled to no one in particular. "I've expended too much mental energy. Have to rest."

During his rampage, he'd learned from one of the executives he'd killed that the division had sought to minimize costs and maximize clean up time by actually contracting with a Yakuza gang to recruit desperate workers with no training in nuclear maintenance or knowledge of how dangerous the Daiichi plant now was. It made him wonder about the subcontractor who had hired him to work there, which ultimately led to his accident and deformity. And it made him wonder just how many others at the plant could be accidents waiting to happen. And what had the executive called it in his mind: A cost-effective risk? It was at that moment that Jin choked the life out of the man in a blind rage, smiling when the man who saw so little value in the lives of strangers mentally pleaded for his own life.

As satisfying as his vengeance against TEPCO had been, though, it left him in an even worse position now. Before he just had a deformed head and augmented mental powers. Now he was a fugitive sought by the police. What would he do now? Where would he go? How could he cure himself, assuming there was a cure - - assuming he wanted one. For even though his massive brain had absorbed more knowledge since his accident than he had in all the years prior, he didn't seem to know what to do next.

"Think about it in the morning," Jin mumbled. He snuggled against a cardboard box near the furnace, laying on a folded canvas tarp to shield him from the concrete floor. Seconds later he was asleep.

* * *

"The police have identified him as Jin Hatarakiburi," Artemis related. It was the next morning and the white cat was on a conference call with the other senshi and Luna while Minako watched the news in a form-fitting gold leotard and tights as she did some morning stretching her karate sensei had recommended. "He's a plumber out of Fukushima who had been working at the Daiichi nuclear plant."

"What's he doing in Tokyo?" Minako heard Makoto ask over the conference line.

"Had an accident at the plant," Artemis reported. "Nearly got electrocuted. He was down here for treatment, then busted out of the hospital by, and get this, 'levitating out a sixth story window'."

"Yeah, he's on the news," Minako called out as she bent forward to touch the toes of her extended leg. "The channel is calling him 'Shunshuu-Dono'! How about that one?" Minako grunted. "This would be easier to do if I didn't have such a big rack."

"Or ate so much cake," Artemis commented.

"You suppose the accident gave him those powers?" Rei ventured.

"Ordinarily I'd say 'no'," Ami replied. "Unless there's another contributing factor I'm unaware of. I'd have to get a scan of him and study it."

"Suppose that's why he's got it in for TEPCO?" Makoto asked.

"It's a logical hypothesis," Ami commented.

"Usagi, wake up!" Luna roared suddenly.

"Huh? Sorry," slurred Usagi. "What were we talking about?" Minako smirked.

"Any way to track this guy?" Minako grunted as she bent to touch the other foot. "I'd rather not wait for him to attack someone else."

"My scans can't trace psychic energy and not being from Tokyo, he has no logical refuge in the city to turn to," Ami replied.

"Police reports are sketchy," Artemis said. "Nobody can pinpoint where he fled after he attacked TEPCO."

"Which is a neat trick, given the way he looks," Minako commented.

"Well, we have to find him!" Usagi exclaimed. "I want to help him! And I don't want him to hurt anyone else!"

They heard Rei sigh. "I'll go down to where he was last seen. Maybe I can pick up his psychic signature."

"I'll help!" Usagi offered. "I wouldn't want you to face him alone when you find him."

Everyone agreed and logged off of the conference call. Artemis then noticed Minako smiling with satisfaction at something.

"What?" he asked.

"Didn't you notice?" Minako said. "Usagi said 'when' Rei finds him. Not 'if'. I doubt she even realized she said it. How do you even think about letting down someone with that much faith in you?"

* * *

Usagi waited in front of the TEPCO Tokyo headquarters, shivering in the cold. Even though she had a fur-lined white leather jacket and pink leggings, she was still cold. This was not the kind of weather to be wearing a skirt. Too, there were still reminders of what had happened the previous afternoon: a shard of glass here and there, the remnant of police cordon tape still tied to a light pole, and a faint hint of red on the concrete where one of the TEPCO executives had fallen to his death.

Luna had told her on her way out that the victims had been identified. Each one was a high ranking executive or upper level manager of the company's nuclear division. Engineers, lower level managers, assistants and other office personnel had only been injured and only as collateral damage. And while the loss of life had and still upset her, Usagi was grateful to hear that this strange man wasn't on an indiscriminate killing rampage.

"Usagi!" she heard Rei call and turned. Rei was approaching, wearing a long dark brown wool coat. It was open at the front, revealing the crimson turtleneck, the tight, short navy skirt and navy winter hose over her legs, ending at black ankle boots.

"Rei, I hate you! You look gorgeous in that outfit!" Usagi marveled. Rei grinned, genuinely pleased.

"It's partially your fault," Rei smirked. "You bought me the coat."

"Hey, that is the coat I bought you!" goggled Usagi. "You wear it very well!" Then she grinned with mock aggression. "Too well, if you ask me. So why aren't you in your priest robes?"

"I figure we'll attract less attention this way," Rei shrugged. Then she smirked maliciously. "Although given the way you're dressed, maybe not. Can you wear that skirt any shorter?"

"I have to do something to compete with you," Usagi shot back playfully.

After working to smother the smile on her face, Rei began concentrating. Usagi watched her intently, as always fascinated by how Rei could see and feel things other people couldn't. The priest lingered for a time, then seemed to seize on something. She and Usagi crossed the street, Rei seemingly a million miles away to Usagi and yet conscious enough to step onto the curb when they reached it. Turning left, they walked for a dozen yards. Suddenly Rei stopped.

"Did you find him already?" Usagi gasped.

"He must have ducked in here," Rei said vacantly. "His psychic signature is strongest here."

"Through the wall?" Usagi asked doubtfully.

"Maybe it's one of his powers," Rei suggested, returning from her light trance. "Let's go inside."

The two women ventured into the lobby of the office building. Usagi looked around while Rei concentrated on the psychic signature she was reading.

"It goes down," she whispered. "Underneath - - one of the lower floors."

"There are no lower floors," Usagi said, checking the building guide. "We're on the bottom."

"There has to be something below us," Rei maintained. "A storage room, a basement, an underground parking garage, something. He didn't go out the back of the building. He went down."

"How will we find it? They're not going to let us just search the place." Suddenly Usagi stopped, then grinned impishly. "Maybe they will, if I ask the right way."

Quickly Usagi pulled Rei back into a secluded part of the lobby. Rei was about to ask why when she saw Usagi pull out the Disguise Pen.

"Moon Power," she said softly, holding the pen up. "Make me into a beautiful police detective."

After a shower of color, Rei found herself standing next to a mature blonde woman dressed in a sensible, elegantly cut black suit dress with a matching shoulder bag. Grasping Rei's hand, Usagi marched them right up to the lobby security desk. The guard on duty spotted them.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Inspector Chiba of the Metro Police," Usagi said professionally, flashing a badge to the guard. "We're investigating yesterday's incident across the street. Is there a lower floor to this building below the lobby?"

"There's the building maintenance storage areas," the guard replied, "and the room where the furnace, water heater and a/c unit is."

"My colleague and I would like to search that area, please," Usagi requested.

"Certainly," the guard nodded, dialing a number on his phone. "That Shunshuu-Dono isn't hiding here, is he?"

"That's what we're trying to find out," Usagi replied while Rei looked on in amazement. Moments later another security guard showed up and he escorted the two women to a service elevator. All the way, Rei just stared at Usagi in awe. The woman she often called "ditz" with justification was the model of a professional law enforcement official. Usagi's heels clicked across the linoleum floor with a precise, almost military cadence. Though she kept a professional demeanor, inside Usagi was giggling in triumph.

"These are the storage areas," the guard said, gesturing to a door as they traveled down a wide hall. He glanced back at the two "police detectives". Usagi was looking intently at Rei, while Rei had her hand to her temple and her eyes clamped shut. After a few moments, the raven-haired woman shook her head. Usagi then gestured to the guard to continue. "And this is the HVAC room."

Rei stopped suddenly. Her features scrunched up almost into a prune. Then they relaxed. Her eyes opened. She nodded to Usagi.

"Go upstairs," Usagi advised the guard. "Call Tokyo Metro Police. Tell them the suspect is down here. Then keep this area and the lobby clear of all civilians. Understood?"

Usagi drew a .38 automatic from under her jacket, startling both the guard and Rei. The guard nodded and quickly headed upstairs.

"Where did you get a gun?" hissed Rei as Usagi reached for the door knob to the HVAC room. Usagi turned to her. Then she looked at the gun in her hand.

Then her eyes grew to saucers.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" gasped Usagi. She dropped the automatic like it was molten. Rei reached out and closed her hand around Usagi's forearm.

"Maybe we better transform," Rei suggested.

After they transformed, the two senshi quietly entered the HVAC room. Mars glanced back and saw the gun had faded with Usagi's transformation into Sailor Moon.

The room itself was sparsely decorated, with open insulation on the walls and ceiling and a bare concrete floor. On one side of the room was a massive ventilating and air conditioning unit with fourteen inch diameter ducts shooting out from it to the ceiling in three directions. On the other side of the room was some cardboard boxes of air filters next to the equally massive furnace, ducts leading up to the ceiling as well. Sailor Moon looked at Mars. Mars pointed toward the boxes. The two senshi quietly approached, Mars armed with one of her wards.

Without warning, a man with a massive cranium sprang up from behind the boxes. Mars moved to throw her ward, but the man gestured with his hands and an invisible force bowled the fire senshi over and sent her skidding across the cement floor.

Continued in Chapter 8


	8. Fist Of Vengeance

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 8: "Fist Of Vengeance"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

Sailor Mars skidded to a stop near the far wall. She groaned, trying to pull herself up off the floor, but not finding the strength. Jin Hatarakiburi stepped from behind the pile of boxes, intent on Mars, a look of malevolence in his eyes.

"You can't sneak up on me," he snarled. "I felt you coming." And he raised his hands to deliver another attack.

"NO, PLEASE!" Sailor Moon cried, lunging between him and Mars. "We don't want to hurt you! Please stop!"

Jin held up, startled. He recognized Sailor Moon, of course - - she was perhaps the most famous person in Japan. What startled him about her was the waves of open emotion that radiated from her, washing over him. Being telepathic, he was even more attuned to her feelings. An overwhelming wave of concern cascaded from her. She wanted to protect her fellow senshi, that was obvious. But she was concerned for him as well. There was no malice to her thoughts and no deception. Sailor Moon wanted, in her charity, peace and harmony for all. It was different in the other one. She wanted peace, but she wanted him neutralized first. Sailor Moon, on the other hand, wanted what was best for him as well as for Sailor Mars.

"We only want to help you," Sailor Moon said.

And she meant it. Jin had never encountered such charitable thoughts before.

"You can," Jin began, "change me back?"

"Maybe," Sailor Moon offered meekly. "I'll try. I'll do everything I can. But please, you have to stop hurting people."

"I only killed the ones responsible," Jin looked down. "The ones who made me like this. The ones who made Fukushima happen."

"But killing is wrong," Sailor Moon told him.

"They intentionally cut corners!" Jin fumed. "They lied about it, and bribed people to keep their secrets! They sacrificed lives and the land, other people's money and safety, and all to make themselves rich and powerful! I know! I read it all in their minds!"

"It's terrible what they did," Sailor Moon said sympathetically. "So many people have suffered, including you. But a wrong doesn't absolve a wrong. It doesn't help. It just makes things worse."

Sailor Moon was close enough to touch him. She reached out and touched his hand with hers.

Each one stiffened. Mars felt a psychic bolt pass through her mind so painful that she pressed her hands to her head for fear it would explode. Jin staggered back, breaking the connection. He reeled, dazed and unsteady. Sailor Moon's eyes rolled back into her head. She crumpled to the floor.

"SAILOR MOON!" gasped Mars.

As Jin started to rise back up to full height, Mars thrust her hand to her side. She was about to call on her Flame Sniper attack. Then she noticed the ceiling. The sprinkler system would kick on if she used any of her fire attacks. Trumped, Mars pulled another ward and psychically charged it. The ward flew at Jin like a shot.

But Jin stuck out his hand and the ward hit an invisible wall. Stuck to the wall, the ward burst into flame and quickly burned up. Mars and Jin locked eyes. There was none of the gentle wonder he had shown just moments earlier when Sailor Moon was talking to him. His features were cold and resolute. And his eyes had an unearthly look to them.

He began to levitate. Mars realized that, sprinklers or no, she had one chance to stop him. In a moment she began to summon her flaming bow and in another moment he was gone, passing through the ceiling like a wraith. Cursing herself for her indecision, Mars ran over and cradled Sailor Moon in her lap.

"Sailor Moon?" Mars pleaded, lightly patting her on the cheek to try to rouse her. Sailor Moon's head began to turn in her lap. Her eyes were still closed, but her features began to look distressed.

"No," Sailor Moon murmured, her head turning slowly back and forth. "No, please don't." Suddenly she lurched up to a sitting position, staring straight ahead. Mars could sense the distress Sailor Moon felt.

"What is it?" Mars asked.

"He's going after the politicians who helped TEPCO avoid the safety regulations," Sailor Moon whispered anxiously. "Starting with Hideki Togura."

"My father's old mentor?" Mars asked, wondering if her father was next. Quickly she was on her senshi communicator.

"Yes, Mars?" Ami responded.

"The killer - - Shunshuu-Dono - - he's after Hideki Togura!" Mars exclaimed. "We need to get to him as soon as possible!"

From the offices of King Records, parent company of Minako's recording label - - which happened to be called "Venus-B Records", something Minako always considered a sign from fate - - sped a limousine with a special passenger in the back.

"I'm on my way," Minako Aino spoke into her senshi communicator. "But I'm coming from Bunkyo-ku and the traffic is your standard Tokyo nightmare. If Usagi and Rei are already in Chiyoda-ku, why can't they take Togura?"

"Usagi was apparently injured in the fight," Ami reported. "They have to delay until she's more stable on her feet. Makoto and I are en route, but we're coming from Minato-ku and I estimate you're closer. Do what you can. Makoto and I will take Dietman Nakahara, who was a close ally of Togura-San. When they're able to travel, Usagi and Rei will take Prime Minister Hino."

"Sure you want to do that?" Minako smirked. "Rei may end up killing the Prime Minister before Shunshuu-Dono gets the chance."

"I grant you Rei may not like it, but she knows her duty," Ami replied.

Fifteen minutes later, the limo pulled up to the passenger discharge area of a high rise office tower within sight of the National Diet Building. Minako got out, wearing her black wig and sunglasses. She tapped on the driver's window and he rolled the window down.

"I don't know how long I'm going to be," she told the limo driver. "If you want to grab a bite or do some shopping or something, go ahead. I'll call you when I need you."

"Are you sure, Aino-Sama?" the driver asked.

"Yeah. Go have fun. After all, King Records is paying for it," she smiled.

"Thank you, Aino-Sama," the driver smiled in return. He drove off and Minako headed into the office building.

Hideki Togura had an office on the ninth floor. He'd maintained that office as a campaign headquarters and mailing address when he was one of the lions prowling the seat of power in the National Diet Building. Since he had been deposed nearly a decade ago, he had used the office as a place to lobby the Diet on behalf of clients. But scandal had diminished his influence and now he was an old man who refused to see the writing on the wall. When Minako entered the office, as Sailor Venus, there was no one else there besides a bored secretary. Upon Venus's arrival, the secretary perked up considerably.

"I'm guessing nobody's been here today," Venus commented, looking around. "I need to see Togura-San. It's important."

"Are you really Sailor Venus?" the awe-struck secretary asked.

"You mean somebody else could look this magnificent?" Venus quipped.

The secretary called the inner office. Seconds later, Hideki Togura emerged. Though he was older and seemed more haunted than the last time she remembered seeing him, Venus noted that he had lost little of the "slick politician" artifice. As an actor, she could often recognize a performance.

"'The' Sailor Venus?" Togura marveled. "I'm honored. And how can I help one of the famous Sailor Senshi?"

"Actually, I'm here to help you," Venus replied. "You've heard the news reports of this Shunshuu-Dono?"

"The attack on TEPCO," Togura nodded. "Terrible news. But what does that have to do with me?"

"You're next on his list," Venus told him.

"What? But why me? I'm just a retired servant of the public."

"We're still kind of hazy on the 'why'," Venus answered. "You ever do any really big favors for anyone at TEPCO when you were in the Diet? The nuclear division, maybe?"

"I was chair of the committee that oversaw regulation of the nuclear industry in Japan," Togura responded. "That's a matter of public record. We wrote the legislation that set up all of the safety procedures and oversight. Our committee worked hand in hand with TEPCO to see that the nuclear industry would safely fill the power needs of all of Japan."

"Yeah, like Fukushima," Venus commented. "Which is where this guy is from. Apparently your 'safe little plant' left him with a huge head and the power to slaughter people with his mind."

"If he's this dangerous, shouldn't the police be involved?" Togura replied with familiar bravado.

"Call them. I'll give you their number. But we've already had one go 'round with him and I guarantee you they won't be able to . . ."

A scream interrupted Venus. They both turned to the secretary. She was staring at Jin Hatarakiburi pass through the wall from outside the building. Venus got into a defensive crouch in front of Togura.

"Stand aside, Sailor Venus!" Jin demanded. "I don't want to hurt you."

"That's good. I really don't want to hurt you," Venus told him. "But take one step closer and I will."

Jin merely extended his hand and closed it into a fist. Suddenly Togura started choking, grasping at his throat.

"I don't have to get close to him to hurt him," Jin replied.

"Venus! Love And Beauty Shock!" was Venus's reply. The shockwave forced Jin to release his grip on Togura to block it. Togura slumped to the floor, gasping for air.

Jin responded with a wave of his hand. Venus tried to dodge it, but the invisible force generated by him caught her and flung her against a wall. She bounced off of it and fell to one knee on the floor.

"Do you know what he did?" demanded Jin. "How he let TEPCO write their own safety standards, how he packed the oversight agencies with people sympathetic to TEPCO, how he looked the other way when it came to TEPCO's excesses, of how he let them flaunt the public safety - - for money?"

"Yeah, and killing him is going to make all of that go away, right?" Venus countered. "Look at him! He's a washed up has-been who got too greedy and lost everything dear to him. What's killing him going to accomplish?"

"It'll serve as a warning!" Jin snapped. "So nobody else uses their position to enrich themselves at the expense of innocent people!" He stared. "You don't believe me?"

"I'm not even sure you believe you," Venus responded. "Even if you do, it's not going to happen. Greed hasn't been bred out of the species. I know first hand."

"See here!" Togura spoke up. "I won't listen to this character assassination any longer! I was a ranking and respected member of the Diet because I got things done that were for the ultimate benefit of Japan and her people! You WILL show me proper respect!"

Jin stared at Togura as if he were crazy. Venus wondered about it herself. But she was too busy noticing how distracted her foe was to think hard about it.

"Venus Love Me Chain!" Venus shouted.

The chain was on Jin before he could react. Golden links wrapped around him and pulled tight, while Venus held the other end taut. Togura forgotten, Jin thrashed in the grip of the chain and began trying to mentally pry it open. And as she held him, Venus began feeling something growing within her. It was a familiar sensation, yet at the same time brand new.

"I DON'T HAVE TO TOUCH YOU TO KILL YOU!" roared Jin. Togura grabbed at his throat again and began choking.

"Exploding Golden Kiss!" bellowed Venus, thrusting her arms forward.

To her amazement, a golden sphere grew from her fingers until it was roughly the size of a beach ball, then shot across the room and exploded into Jin with the force of a bomb. Jin was knocked off of his feet and thrown hard to the floor. He lay on the floor, stunned.

"Cool!" Venus giggled. She focused back on Jin. "Maybe THAT'LL teach you some manners."

"Is he dead?" Togura asked anxiously.

"Why do you want him dead?" Venus demanded.

"He tried to kill me!" Togura blustered.

"Aside from that," Venus shot back. "Take a look at his skull! He didn't get that way in a pachinko parlor! Part of the reason he's like that is radiation exposure from that nuclear plant! You know, the one that people like YOU said was safe!"

"And do you live in a home completely free of electricity?" Togura said defiantly. "How many gadgets do you have? What do you think powers them? Japan wouldn't be where it is now without electricity and the best way to generate it in the quantity needed was that plant! And I helped get it through the Diet and get it built! Me! Hideki Togura! The same people who turned their backs on me benefited from that plant! And if I got rewarded in return for my actions, rewards that I used to keep myself in office to help lead Japan into this twenty-first century, it's not something I'm going to apologize for!"

Venus was about to respond, but suddenly her head snapped back like she'd been struck. Pin-wheeling to the floor, Venus hit hard and struggled to get up. Togura turned and saw Jin getting to his feet.

"You want to kill me? Fine!" Togura barked. "I'm old and no longer fit to live the life I've chosen for myself! Better to die with honor than to live in disgrace! Maybe I have done some things that lesser men might consider wrong!" His eyes narrowed. "But I never murdered anyone. And that alone makes me better than you."

Jin didn't reply, save to roll his eyes up into his head. Out of nowhere, Togura's head snapped back as if it had been struck. He hung in the air for a few seconds, then slumped to the floor. Forcing herself to her knees, Venus tried to prepare herself for an attack on her. But Jin just turned and passed through the wall.

Crawling over to Togura, Venus rolled him onto his back. Togura looked up at her, staring vacantly. She said his name, once, then twice, but there was no response, no recognition. And Venus realized what had happened.

"I think I'd rather live in disgrace," Venus murmured, "than live without a mind." She sat back and pressed a stud on her communicator. "Mercury? This is Venus. He was here. Now he's probably headed for your guy."

"Is Togura-San alive?" Mercury asked.

"If you want to call it that," Venus replied.

"Look, we have to get in there!" Sailor Jupiter argued with the chief of security for the National Diet Building, while Mercury spoke on her communicator. "There's going to be an attempt on the life of Dietman Nakahara!"

"You aren't going anywhere until I'm satisfied you are who you say you are," the Chief of Security reiterated.

"This doesn't tell you anything?" Jupiter demanded, her hands spread to indicate her senshi uniform.

"Anyone can wear a costume," the Chief said with a cocked eyebrow. Jupiter's eyes narrowed.

"Would you like a demonstration?" she asked thinly.

"Threats are not going to help you," the Chief replied just as thinly. "The safety of the Diet as a whole and of its individual members is MY responsibility. We do not need the help of glorified vigilantes."

"Glorified . . .!" gasped Jupiter. Before she could continue, she felt a hand on her arm. Turning, she found Sailor Mercury behind her. "How did Blondie make out?"

"She wasn't able to stop him," Mercury replied grimly.

"She OK?" Jupiter asked quickly. Mercury nodded.

"Apparently your assistance isn't all that valuable," the Chief commented. Jupiter whirled on him and seemed ready to punch him.

"Jupiter, don't!" Mercury exclaimed, grabbing her companion's right arm. "It won't solve anything!"

"So we just let this delusional moron let a sitting Dietman be killed because he's too stubborn to accept help?" demanded Jupiter.

"He's within his rights to refuse," Mercury replied calmly. "No matter how illogical his course of action, he is acting in a legal, official capacity and we don't have any official standing with the government." She turned to the man. "Would it be all right if we remained in the lobby and keep watch, just in case?"

"Certainly not," the Chief replied. "You're causing a disruption and I'm officially asking you to leave. My men are guarding Dietman Nakahara and if anything does arise, they'll handle it."

Reluctantly Mercury nodded and guided Jupiter away.

"We're just going to let them get mowed down?" Jupiter protested to Mercury. "If this guy took on Sailor Moon and Mars and Venus, they don't stand a chance!"

"There's nothing we can do here," Mercury told her. "We'll have to wait outside and try to intercept him before he can enter the National Diet Building. They have no jurisdiction over us on a public street."

"Man, I never thought I'd run into that attitude again," Jupiter scowled. "After all we've done over the last twenty years. Why are these military and police types always so threatened by us?"

"I could give you some psychological reasons," Mercury said once they were outside. She summoned her computer and opened it, then pressed on her visor. "But locating and stopping this adversary is the more important job at the moment." She tapped in a code. "I'm picking up a radar echo on course for this location."

"Think it's our guy?" Jupiter asked.

"It's too slow to be a missile and too small to be anything else," Mercury judged. "Coming in from the south. That's the direction Togura-San's office was in."

The two senshi looked. Already the sight was causing a stir among the civilians on the street. It was a man levitating twenty feet off of the ground, traveling slowly along the thoroughfare.

Jupiter extended the lightning rod from her tiara while Mercury began tapping on her computer.

Continued in Chapter 9


	9. Reimagined Purpose

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 9: "Reimagined Purpose"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

"Prime Minister-Sama," the guard called from his station at the front gate of the Kantei, Japan's official office and residence of the Prime Minister, "two women are here to see you, without an appointment or any credentials. One of them claims to be your daughter."

"Let me speak to her," Prime Minister Hino said, wondering if this had anything to do with the super-powered menace roaming Tokyo or if his daughter was just in another snit again.

"It's me," Rei said into the phone in a short, clipped manner. "Usagi is with me. We need to see you. It's very important."

"Pass the phone back," Hino replied. If Usagi was with her, it was probably senshi business. The guard came back on. "Let them through."

The guard came to attention. He hung up the phone, opened the gate, and bowed crisply as the two women passed inside. They were met at the door by an official of the Kantei house security and led to the Prime Minister's office. As they walked down the expensive, ornately furnished halls of power, Usagi couldn't help but marvel at everything.

"Wow!" Usagi exclaimed as they entered Hino's office. "This place is amazing! I bet you even have satellite TV!"

"Please have a seat, Tsukino-San," Hino gestured to a chair across from his desk. He turned to Rei and visibly stiffened. "Rei. I assume this has something to do with this 'Shunshuu-Dono' that's loose in the city?"

"Yes," Rei replied stiffly. "Usagi and I had a confrontation with him earlier today. From that confrontation, we learned that he intends retribution against members of the Diet who worked with TEPCO to implement the regulations on the nuclear industry. We think you're one of his targets."

"Well I did work on the Energy Committee during that time," Hino replied. "But I was just a freshman Dietman. Togura-Sempai was the lead . . ." Suddenly he grew anxious. "Togura-Sempai! Is he . . .?"

"He already struck," Usagi croaked out. "Venus tried to stop him. I'm so sorry."

Hino's jaw clenched. Both women could see he was visibly shaken.

"I know he was a friend of yours," Usagi offered.

"He was my mentor," Hino said distantly. "I learned so much from him. I . . ." and words failed him. Several moments passed before he could speak again. "And you say he's coming here next?"

"We think he's after Dietman Nakahara next," Rei said, her tone a little softer. "Mercury and Jupiter are over there now. But you're on his list. And we have a better chance of stopping him than the Self-Defense Forces do."

"Nakahara, too?" marveled Hino. "Yes, do whatever you think necessary. I'll clear it with the security staff." Immediately he was on the phone. Usagi looked at Rei.

"How long do you think we have?" Usagi asked.

"I don't know," Rei replied grimly. "So we'd better get transformed. You sure you're all right?"

"Don't worry about me, Rei," Usagi said, pulling her pendant from her blouse. "Stopping him from hurting anyone else is all that matters."

* * *

"Jupiter, he's veering for The Kantei!" Mercury exclaimed suddenly.

The Kantei was diagonally opposite from the National Diet Building in Chiyoda-Ku. Jupiter had recognized that Jin was veering almost as Mercury proclaimed it. Bursting out into the street as far as she safely dared, the senshi shoved her splayed hand to her side as anxious onlookers gasped and murmured to each other. Seeing the vaunted Sailor Senshi in action was a thrilling sight, but it also usually meant trouble was afoot and the area was soon not going to be safe.

"Jupiter!" she shouted. "Oak Evolution!"

Immediately electrical bursts began exploding all around Jin. He shrunk back from them, a natural response to the biting attack of electricity. The disruption of the electrical bursts began to interfere with the telekinetic field that was suspending him above the street. Jin began to wobble as the electrical bursts continued.

"Your electrical attack may be disrupting the electromagnetic energy that powers his telekinesis!" Mercury shouted, running up to back Jupiter up. "Can you hit him with another shot?"

"Done. Jupiter! Oak Evolution!"

More electrical bursts exploded around Jin and he retreated from their influence. His vision swung down to the two senshi harassing him. Suddenly an invisible force began ripping up pavement on a line moving directly toward the senshi at a high rate of speed. Mercury and Jupiter barely got out of the way. A parked car wasn't so lucky and the invisible force sawed a diagonal line through the car's back end.

"Mercury!" Mercury shouted, her computer fading as she brought her attack to bear. "Aqua Rhapsody!"

The gusher of water came up from out of nowhere. Taken by surprise since there was no reference to its point of origin, Jin was struck full body by the water. Suddenly the water flash froze around him, imprisoning him in ice.

"Jupiter! Hit the ice with a lightning bolt!" Mercury ordered.

"Supreme Thunder!" Jupiter roared.

Onlookers scattered as electricity lanced down from the sky and struck Jupiter's tiara lightning rod, then enveloped her whole body. The senshi gathered the energy in, then expelled it in a massive bolt. The bolt struck the ice encasing Jin Hatarakiburi and the frozen liquid exploded in all directions.

"Did I miss?" Jupiter exclaimed anxiously.

"No, I wanted you to hit the ice," Mercury replied, concentrating on the reading on her visor. "I couldn't leave him encased or he would either suffocate or die of hypothermia. The ice slowed his metabolism down enough to trap him, and both conducted the electricity better and made him more susceptible to its effects." She pointed suddenly. "There!"

Lying in the street was Jin. He was rocking on his side, stunned and injured but still conscious. Quickly Mercury and Jupiter moved in to restrain him. But without warning, Jin swept his hand in an arc before him. A wall of fire sprang up around him, cutting him off from them, the Tokyo Police who had arrived, and anyone else.

"I'll try to douse the flames!" Mercury shouted.

"Don't bother," Sailor Mars proclaimed. Mercury and Jupiter spotted her and Sailor Moon coming out of the Kantei across the street. "Those flames can't protect him from me. Mars! Flame Sniper!"

The fiery bow formed in her hand. She pulled back the bowstring, drawing the flaming arrow closer to her and took a single second to aim. The flaming bolt took flight, pierced the wall of fire and struck true inside. A scream of pain came from inside.

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" Mercury shouted, projecting her attack as freezing rain to douse the flames and coat the area surrounding Jin with ice so it couldn't reignite.

Laying in the circle was Jin, his right hand covering a wound in his left chest. His appearance was wan and haggard. His look was that of a cornered animal. Eyes shifting from Mars to Mercury and Jupiter, then back again, he panted loudly and waited for the next attack. Tense moments passed with the two sides at bay.

Then Jin lashed out with another sweep of his right arm. Mars and Jupiter both moved to counterattack, but they and Mercury were struck by an invisible force and sent flying backwards. Mars impacted with the wall of the Kantei grounds, while Mercury and Jupiter landed on the hoods of parked cars.

"Exploding Golden Kiss!" rang out, followed by a burst of golden energy that struck Jin in the back and hammered him into the pavement. Sailor Moon and the bystanders looked in the direction it came from and saw Sailor Venus running down the middle of the street from the office building two blocks down. "Take him, Sailor Moon!"

"Right!" Sailor Moon shouted and summoned the Moon Tier. "Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!"

Jin was trying to leverage himself to his knees when the silver energy enveloped him. He stiffened when it struck, but then seemed to relax. He slumped on his knees, his arms bracing him, as the silver energy swirled around him. Sailor Moon kept the Moon Tier pointed at him. Then his head turned to her.

Their eyes locked. And Sailor Moon saw the unexpected. He wasn't angry or defiant. That was expected from the effects of the Silver Crystal's caress. But he wasn't placid or contented, either, as her foes often reacted to the caress. Jin stared up at her with a genuine sense of yearning, as if he was experiencing something he'd once known and lost and hadn't known he'd lost until now. It was a look that told her he'd do anything to keep experiencing that sensation. And her heart went out to him. And somehow, through his telepathic abilities or through her connection to the crystal or both or something else, he sensed it.

"Look out! He's getting away!" Venus shouted. "Venus Love Me Chain!"

Venus projected her Love Me Chain at Jin, for his body was passing down through the pavement of the street to the sewer system below. The golden links struck, but passed through his incorporeal form. In a moment, there was nothing there to snare. Turning, Venus headed for the nearest manhole. Blasting it open with her Crescent Beam, she clamored down the manhole into the sewer. The other senshi ran up to the opening and peered in.

"Venus?" called Sailor Moon.

"Man, does it stink down here!" came the animated response.

"It's a sewer! What did you expect?" bellowed Mars. "Do you see him?"

"No!" Venus called back. "And I can't tell if he headed down the sewer line or kept going down!"

"I'm tracking some electromagnetic energy headed north along the sewer line," Mercury reported, her computer back out. "It's about five hundred meters from our position. Come back up, Venus! We can better track him from up here!"

"Gladly," Venus replied, emerging from the manhole. She and the senshi began heading north. But suddenly Mercury stopped.

"It's gone," Mercury informed them. "Either something is shielding him from my scans or he's no longer using his telekinesis. Or. . ."

"Or he's dead?" Mars asked. "We really can't take that chance. We'll have to go to his last known position and try to trace him from there."

"But what if he doubles back and goes after the Prime Minister or Dietman Nakahara again?" Jupiter asked.

"Logical," Mercury nodded. "Venus can keep watch on the Prime Minister. You stay here at the National Diet Building. Mars, Sailor Moon and I will try to trace this man."

Everyone nodded and went about their work.

* * *

Jin woke up in another strange storage basement. He seemed to do that every time he expended a lot of psychic energy. Remembering his wound, he pulled back the shirt around him and examined it. The heat from Sailor Mars' arrow had cauterized the outer skin, so it wasn't bleeding. But it was painful to move. Using his great brain to mentally sense the biometric of his own body, Jin discovered that it was not a life-threatening injury. He set about mentally stimulating the tissue in his chest and shoulder, trying to get it to heal faster. Unfortunately, there would always be a small gash inside of him that would scar and never heal.

His emotions wanted to blame Sailor Mars, but his increased intellect realized that was wrong. His whole response had been wrong. Attacking the TEPCO executives had been bad enough - - yes, they were guilty of greed and indifference to others, but taking the law into his own hands hadn't helped. It had only brought the government and the Sailor Senshi into the equation, against him. Attacking the government only intensified their opposition to him. He was perceived as a threat now, no matter his reasons and justification, and the government at least wouldn't rest until he was neutralized. As for the senshi . . .

Jin thought back to when Sailor Moon hit him with the energy from her weapon. When he'd braced for it, Jin thought it would hurt like the attacks of the other senshi. But it didn't. It was so - - wonderful. It was a level of peace and contentment that he hadn't known since - - as far back as he could remember. Only his increased intellect had allowed him to resist surrendering to it. Already he missed it. Jin smiled at the memory. And she was so beautiful. They were all beautiful. Part of the popularity of the senshi was their physical beauty. It was as if there was a senshi for each person's tastes. But Sailor Moon - - there was an ethereal quality to her. It was like she was from a different plane, a different strata of human - - if she was even human. Anyone who could project such wonderfully enriching, intoxicating energy had to be of the gods themselves.

He couldn't oppose her. She'd stop him. Perhaps she was wise to stop him. His plans had been ill-conceived. But he couldn't allow a company with no legal or moral restrictions to continue to exploit innocent people for their own gain. It was wrong. And if the government was willing to shirk its duty to the people who elected it merely for financial gain or the accumulation of personal power, then it was his duty as a person with power in his own right to turn them out. But how to do that without bringing Sailor Moon into the equation, because she and her senshi had the power to stop him.

"First I should find out where I am," Jin mumbled to himself.

He closed his eyes and opened his mind, allowing the thoughts of everyone in his vicinity flow to him. It was a cacophony at first, but with a little concentration he was able to sort through the thoughts and memories of several hundred people and sift out where they, and he, were. After a few minutes, Jin learned he was in the National Diet Library, about three hundred meters from the National Diet Building. The thought momentarily panicked him, for the police and the Sailor Senshi had to be nearby. Logically they would be searching for him. Cautiously his mind reached out. When he sensed Sailor Moon, shining like a warm radiant sun amid the lesser human lights, he quickly retreated.

"I'll have to stay here until I'm stronger," Jin thought. Then an idea occurred to him. There was no sense in being idle while he recovered.

So Jin opened his mind again. Allowing the thoughts and memories of everyone in the National Diet Library to flow into him, Jin could read what they were reading and learn what they knew on a wide variety of subjects. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, and learned by proxy.

* * *

"Well that was a huge bust," Sailor Moon sighed as the five senshi exited the Supreme Court of Japan building north of the Diet. Police were everywhere in the area and Self-Defense Forces were moving in, while onlookers strained at barricades and gawked. But everyone would turn and look or point at the famous senshi.

"When you said he was only about five hundred meters away, I thought sure he'd gone to the Supreme Court building," Mars muttered. "Any chance he doubled back on the Diet Building?"

"I'm still not showing any electromagnetic energy readings consistent with his level of psychic output," Mercury reported. "Nor have there been any reports from either Venus or Jupiter."

"Call them and see if they're all right," Sailor Moon fretted. Noticing Mars had stopped, Sailor Moon stopped and looked at her.

"Nothing happening here except it looks like every cop in Chiyoda-Ku is here," Jupiter reported over Mercury's communicator. "You guys get anything?"

"No," Mercury answered. "Venus?"

"A couple of really hot soldiers just got out of a troop truck down the street," Venus responded. "No sign of brain boy."

"Mars?" Sailor Moon asked. This caught Mercury's attention.

"I felt something just now," Mars said distantly. Then she seemed to return to reality. "It's gone now."

"Our suspect?" Mercury asked.

"I think so," Mars said. "It was very light, like someone mentally peeking to see where we were - - or where he was."

"But that's the National Diet Library," Sailor Moon argued. "Why would he hide there of all places?"

"Maybe he didn't intentionally choose it," Mercury replied, concentrating her visor on the building. "Getting several hundred life form readings, which would be logical for this time of day."

"The military is already beginning to evacuate the building," Mars pointed out. A side entrance was being held open by troops as patrons and workers of the library were being herded out.

"I'm still not getting any unusual electromagnetic readings," Mercury reported. "But if he is still in the area, that is the closest building that we haven't checked."

"He's still here," Mars said definitely. "I can't pinpoint him, but I can feel him."

"Should I call the others?" Sailor Moon asked.

"No, leave them at their posts in case he makes a break for it," Mercury suggested.

With that, the three senshi headed for the front door of the National Diet Library.

Continued in Chapter 10


	10. The Revolutionary

THE SUPERIOR MAN  
Chapter 10: "The Revolutionary"  
A Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

* * *

"You can't come in here," the soldier said at the front door of the National Diet Library Building, barring the way of Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars. "This is a restricted area."

"We know," Sailor Moon argued ever so politely. "We also know why. That's why we're here. We're trying to end this before someone else gets hurt."

"You're not authorized personnel. You're not going in there," the soldier replied.

"But we can help!" Sailor Moon responded desperately. The guard remained unmoved by her plea.

"You there!" a voice called out. They all turned and saw a Master Sergeant with the Self-Defense Force. He had a stern face and the grim eyes of a warrior. "Let them through."

"But Sergeant, they're unauthorized civilians," the soldier replied sharply.

"They've been granted access to all staging areas," the sergeant told him. "Orders from the Prime Minister himself."

Crisply the soldier brought his weapon to attention and stepped to one side. Sailor Moon and her two senshi stepped into the library lobby.

"Honestly, the military is just so hostile toward us anymore," Sailor Moon grumped. "I just don't get it. We're only trying to help."

"Maybe we've shown them up one time too many," Mars suggested. Mercury was concentrating on her visor.

"I'm registering twenty-seven life forms in the building, not counting ourselves," Mercury reported. "Eliminating all the life forms that are armed," and Mercury paused for a moment, "he's in a storage room in the basement."

"What's with this guy and basements?" Sailor Moon asked as they headed for the stairwell.

Easing silently down the staircase to the level below the library, the three senshi headed toward the location they thought the so-called Shunshuu-Dono was lurking. At their insistence, Sailor Mars was in front and to Sailor Moon's right, armed with her wards, while Sailor Mercury was in front and on her left, her visor locked on its sensor target. Sailor Moon clutched the Moon Tier in both hands to her chest and silently prayed he would come peacefully. As they approached the door, each one tried to still her breath so as not to betray their position. Mars reached out for the door knob.

"Come in," they heard a voice from behind the door. "I won't attack you."

Spurred on by Sailor Moon, the three senshi slid through the door into the room, Mars and Mercury once again standing in front of Sailor Moon. Jin Hatarakiburi sat against a far wall. He seemed calm. Had the fight gone out of him?

Or was he baiting a trap?

"Are you surrendering?" Mercury asked while Mars studied him with that piercing look that only she could muster.

"Not at all," Jin replied. "It's just that you can't hurt me, so I no longer have any reason to hurt you."

"Well, that's something anyway," Sailor Moon said. "Please let us help you."

"Help me how? Do you even know how I became this way?" Jin asked.

"Your accident in Fukushima stimulated the growth of cells possibly mutated by exposure to radiation at your work place," Mercury ventured. "This caused a rapid expansion of the cranial structure and of the brain tissue within. It also increased both brain retention and capacity, and stimulated latent psycho-kinetic activity inherent within your brain. I would have to do a detailed analysis to determine exactly how your cells were mutated and which strands of DNA were correspondingly altered, but that would be my theory."

"And it would be precisely correct," Jin told her. "My, you have to be the highest intellect I've encountered yet."

"Are you probing my mind telepathically?"

"Since the three of you descended the stairs," Jim replied. "I know a great deal more about you three than you think."

"Is nothing sacred to you?" bristled Mars.

"Yes," Jin replied. "The right of the individual not to be callously used and dismissed by people only after money or power. I got this way because a corporation didn't care if I got hurt so long as they profited. I got this way because a government was more interested in remaining in power by catering to this callous corporation than in protecting the people who elected it."

"But we can help you with that," pleaded Sailor Moon.

"By turning me back into what I was?" Jin asked. "An intellectual lightweight stuck in a menial job and easy prey for the rich and powerful? Or by leaving me as I am now: an intellectual giant trapped in a grotesque body, shunned by everyone."

"I don't think you're grotesque," Sailor Moon told him. Since he could read her mind, Jin knew she wasn't lying. "No living thing is grotesque. Let me help you. I want to help you be whatever you want to be."

"Yes, you do," Jin murmured, almost mesmerized by Sailor Moon. Mars and Mercury both silently marveled at how Sailor Moon could conquer so many with just a moist eye and a soft voice. "And if I told you I wanted to be - - Emperor of Japan?"

Mars and Mercury tensed as Sailor Moon stared in dumbfounded shock. Then the two senshi recoiled, struck by an invisible force. They both sank to the floor as Sailor Moon looked on in horror. Then the next thing she knew, Jin was in front of her, grasping her by her upper arms and looking right into her eyes. Sailor Moon was too startled to move. The pair levitated up toward the ceiling and passed through, her Moon Tier clattering to the floor as Mars and Mercury struggled to get up.

Sailor Jupiter was still outside the National Diet Building, since the Prime Minister's edict didn't have jurisdiction over the Diet. She looked around for any possibility of attack even as the police and the Self-Defense Force troops locked down the area. As she kept watch, her thoughts drifted to her husband and kids, dining again without her, and to her restaurant, operating without its owner and star chef. This was more important; of that there was no question. But it didn't stop her from missing and yearning for those most important things in her life.

A commotion among the troops caught her attention. Looking up, she saw Shunshuu-Dono and Sailor Moon levitating up out of the National Diet Library and into the sky. Abandoning her post, she ran in pursuit as she flipped open her communicator.

"Venus! He's on the move! And he's got Sailor Moon!" she shouted.

"On my way!" Venus responded. As she ran, Jupiter thought about using her lightning power to bring him down. She hesitated, fearing injuring Sailor Moon in the process.

"I guess I'm just going to have to not miss," Jupiter told herself as her lightning rod extended from her tiara. "Supreme . . . no, Sparkling Wide Pressure!"

Collecting a ball of compressed electricity in her hands, Jupiter thrust out and fired the ball at him. Her hope was to hit him and force him down without harming Sailor Moon. If he should drop her, Jupiter hoped to get close enough to cushion her fall or even catch her. But a mental bolt from Jin deflected the ball of electricity. Then her sight line was obscured by a building. By the time she got past the building blocking her, they were gone.

"Jupe?" Venus asked, running up to her as Jupiter stood in impotent fury.

"He got away," she fumed. "And he got away with her."

* * *

The Diet was in emergency session, despite the threat posed by Shunshuu-Dono. With troops stationed at the doors, in the aisles and around the speaker's podium, the lawmaking body debated this latest threat to national security and personal safety. For his own protection, Prime Minister Hino was in the Kantei, under heavy guard. Similarly, Dietman Nakahara was absent, under protective guard at his residence.

"This is utter terrorism at its most loathsome," pontificated Dietman Shiigata, a point man for many of the Liberal Democrat Party's agenda. "We can have only one response to such threats and that is no deals and no quarter! Surrendering to terrorism only breeds more terrorism!"

"Perhaps we should also be investigating what brought about this threat in the first place," spoke up an up-and-coming young member of the Diet, Momoko Togashi.

"You're out of order, Dietwoman Togashi," the chair of the session said, banging a gavel on his desk.

"Let her speak!" shouted Dietman Tsukushira, a ranking member of the opposition Democrat Party. "Let her . . .!"

A hush fell over the Diet as an apparition appeared over the speaker's podium. Dietman Shiigata looked up, saw the ethereal form of Shunshuu-Dono, and quickly retreated.

"Members of Japan's ruling body," the ghostly figure spoke, "I am Jin Hatarakiburi. Most of you know me by the sensationalistic name the press has dubbed me with: Shunshuu-Dono. I come to you with a single demand: Disband the Diet and turn absolute rule of Japan over to me. I do not make this demand out of lust for power or a desire for personal aggrandizement. Since you all have ceded your duty to protect the people who elected you, I see no reason to allow this sham government to continue. I will look out for the good of the public."

"How dare you make such threats against us!" blustered one of the Dietmen.

"You have thirty minutes in which to stop all governmental activity and leave the National Diet Building," Jin continued. "Non-compliance will be dealt with severely. You know what I did at TEPCO. Don't force me to do it again."

And the apparition faded from view.

In a remote location unknown to her, Sailor Moon strained to move. Since arriving here, she had stood in place, unable to move below the neck save to breathe. Her abductor, Shunshuu-Dono, had been speaking to no one. She assumed it was not her, because the fearful things he said made no sense if she assumed they were directed at her. He had to be talking to the members of the Diet, somehow.

Suddenly he stopped and turned to her. Trepidation filled her as he walked over to her and ran his hand across her cheek. But the trepidation was replaced by a vision. Suddenly she was in a different place. It was Tokyo, but a Tokyo in ruins, the people battered and scarcely alive. And amid the ruins were her old friends, Princess Kakyuu and Sailor Starfighter.

And then it was gone.

"Did you have a vision of the future just now?" Jin asked. His demeanor with her was so different than when he talked to the Diet just moments earlier. "I had one. In it, you were Queen of Japan. Everyone was cheering you. Everyone loved you." He looked down. "It's not hard to understand why. Just being near you fills me with such - - peace. I suppose that's why I took you. I love this feeling."

"Why can't I move?" Sailor Moon asked.

"I've blocked the voluntary neural synapses below your neck," he explained. "Don't fear. It's not permanent. Somehow I - - just can't conceive of hurting you."

"Thank you," Sailor Moon replied timidly. "I wish you felt that way about everybody."

"Not everyone is worthy of it the way you are," Jin scowled.

"They could be," she ventured, "if you forgave them. If you gave them a chance to become better than they are now."

"You give them too much credit," Jin frowned. He turned away. "You believe in the good in everybody. But I've seen into their minds. I've seen the greed and corruption that has a choke-hold on their souls. You can't save them, Sailor Moon. And you shouldn't save them. They should be carved out before they can harm the ones worth saving - - or before they can corrupt them."

Struck by an unspoken emotion, Jin turned to Sailor Moon and found tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You weep for them?" Jin asked. She didn't respond. "And for me?" Sailor Moon's cheeks flushed because he seemed to be looking into her very soul. "Perhaps I am going about this the wrong way. Perhaps I was better off before this happened: Blind and ignorant - - and happy. But it's done and I've come too far to go back, just as you've come too far from that blissfully ignorant fourteen year old girl who dreamed of nothing more than falling in love. I'm going to punish the guilty and save the innocent, by force if necessary. And if it condemns my soul to Hell, so be it."

"It's not the way," Sailor Moon sobbed softly. But he wouldn't listen.

* * *

"Acknowledged, Artemis," Sailor Mercury said over her wrist communicator. The other three senshi had been listening to the cat's report on their communicators, of how Shunshuu-Dono had just given the Diet a deadline to disband. She turned to the others. "This poses a problem if the Diet Security staff continues to be obstinate about allowing us access in order to protect them."

"That's the problem?" Jupiter marveled. "What about Sailor Moon? He's got her! There's no telling what he's done to her!"

"I'm acutely aware of that, Jupiter," Mercury responded in a controlled manner. "I'm certain Artemis is working right now to triangulate on her communicator signal. But we don't know if Sailor Moon is in immediate danger. We only fear it. The Diet, the Prime Minister and the entire Japanese system of democratic government is under immediate threat and we know that to be real. His attack is due in twenty-four minutes and we have the only hope of stopping him."

"Without Sailor Moon?" Jupiter shot back. "She's our only real hope of stopping him. Besides, our first mission isn't to protect the public or the government - - it's to protect her!"

At loggerheads, Mercury glanced to Mars and Venus for their input. Mars caught them looking to her.

"Don't ask me," Mars shook her head. "You know how I feel about Sailor Moon. I'd face Hell itself to get her back. But," and she began to mist up, "Gods help me. I hate his ways and I hate his ambitions and I despise his priorities. But he's still my father. I thought he'd killed that. Maybe he hasn't - - completely."

"Maybe we ought to ask ourselves," Venus spoke up in a tone as serious as they'd ever heard from her, "what she'd want us to do. I think she'd want us to stay here and help everyone else."

"And what are we always saying," Jupiter persisted, "about 'protecting her from herself'?"

The communicator sounded. Everyone engaged theirs nearly simultaneously.

"Girls," they heard Luna begin, "I don't think you have to worry. Mamoru just went tearing out of here." The four seemed to sigh in collective relief.

"Should have known," Jupiter grinned. The others nodded.

"Now we just have to get into the Diet," Mercury said. They turned and headed for the National Diet Building.

"And what's all this 'she's our only real hope of stopping him' garbage?" Venus added, a glint in her eye as she glanced at Jupiter. "I'm here."

"And?" Jupiter replied with a grin.

"Hey, I got a ginchy new attack, too! Want to hear all about it?"

"Do we have a choice?"

* * *

"A deadline was given to The Diet and, by implication, to me," Prime Minister Hino said on national television. He was broadcasting from his office in the Kantei. "Dismantle the government and hand control of Japan over to this 'Shunshuu-Dono', Jin Hatarakiburi. That deadline is only minutes away, as I speak to you.

"I have been in communication with the leaders of The Diet and we are agreed upon our response to this threat. We refuse to abandon the people of Japan, the people who elected us to represent them, to anyone trying to seize power by force. If you are listening, Hatakiburi-San, we recommend that you do not undertake this course of action. If you have grievances against the government, we are willing to talk to somehow achieve a response that is satisfactory in righting these alleged wrongs. But we will not surrender to force. We will fight you at every turn, with every weapon at our command, to keep Japan a free Japan. I ask the people of Japan to be strong and stay united in this latest test of our will."

"Imbeciles," Jin responded. Sequestered in the room with Sailor Moon, he had used his great mind to project the Prime Minister's speech so they both could view it. "They cling to power with the avarice of misers. They can't see that their time is passing before their eyes."

"Is there anything I can do to keep you from doing this?" pleaded Sailor Moon. She had given up hope of trying to move and instead tried to move him with her voice and her reason. "You're going to make a terrible mistake if you keep this up."

"On the contrary," Jin turned to her. "The Diet as you know it, the Prime Minister's office as you now know it, no longer exist in 2015. In that short a time, Japan will be changed forever. I've seen it."

"With you as ruler?" Sailor Moon asked anxiously.

"Perhaps not. My vision was incomplete. Perhaps the vision I saw of you being Queen of all Japan is the true future. I'm not concerned. I'm not doing this for power for myself. I'm doing this for a Japan free of a society run by greed and corrupted by power and money. If it paves the way for your rise to power, I'm content." He gently caressed her cheek. "I trust you. It's them I don't trust. It's them who can't be trusted."

Turning, Jin put his hands to his temples. It would be easy to levitate to The Diet and use his great mental powers to slaughter the Diet in their chairs. But if he could do the deed remotely, there would be less threat to him. He concentrated on The Diet and the people inside, concentrated on them dying.

And then his concentration was broken when the stem of a red rose passed across his vision and embedded in a far wall. Jin and Sailor Moon both turned toward the missile's point of origin. Standing in the doorway, a look of barely controlled fury on his lower face, was Tuxedo Mask.

Continued in Chapter 11


End file.
